Christmas in October

Monday Jon came up with the idea of celebrating a little bit of Christmas in October on Saturday morning. Basically he had bought my "big gift" in September and thought I would want to put it to work before December 25th finally rolled around. He woke up early to wrap the gift, make breakfast, and start the fire. He woke me up at 7:45 so we could eat and open the gift before Ellie woke up. He made me waffles which he knows I really like but he is not very fond of, so we do not eat them often.
When we were in the basement I opened my big gift for the year - a brand new Bernina sewing machine. I am so excited to put it to use! I opened it up and counted all the pieces and browsed the owners manuel while Jon watched on, feeling like the younger brother who can look but can't touch. He went upstairs and found Ellie awake (and fussing) in her crib. I quickly put the machine up out of her reach and thanked Jon for Christmas in October.
Jon went over to Peter's house to help trim a tree along with Doug and Omar. I fed Ellie breakfast then we got ready for the day and headed off to the Conestoga Christian School benefit auction. Aunt Brittany is an alum and was present along with her family. Although Ellie and I didn't bid on any items we did purchase some food for lunch for Jon and a quart of soup for dinner. It was well worth the trip.
Jon met me at home at 12:15 since he needed to keep Ellie while I went to a bridal shower for Olivia. I fed Ellie then put her down for a nap. Olivia's shower was five minutes away at her future home with Nate at the edge of French Creek State Park. It was a tea-party and the food was delicious. I sat with Corinne, Katie, and Brittney (Estes) and also caught up with some other cousins and a girl I hadn't seen since high school. It was a nice shower but didn't end until 3:00 and I had to take Grandma home.
While Jon was in charge of Ellie he took her to Elverson Supply after her nap. He said she was very stoic, looking at all the construction workers and employees without batting an eyelash. She took it all very seriously.
Dad was hosting an open house concert at Bulltown which I really wanted to attend but it ended at 4:00. I asked Grandma if I could stop by home and pick up Ellie, which she was flexible about. I touched base with Jon before the three of us went to Elverson. I sadly didn't know the open house was more formal and a special event where kids weren't allowed (oops!) so I held Ellie the entire time we were at Bulltown. It was showing off a barn they built for a man to house his cars and work on them. It was really impressive.

Waiting to head home

Chatting with the homeowner

We headed home and basically said "hello" and "goodbye" to Jon who was heading to Philadelphia to pick up some missionaries from the airport. He was gone for over three hours. Ellie was bored and out of sorts, fussing and carrying. I put her to bed relatively early and hung out until Jon came home. He had to work on his prayer for the church service in the morning so I supported him by watching a movie in the basement.

While we were waiting for Jon to come home Ellie got into a bag of animal crackers.