It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

Whew! Where has the time gone? It’s like I blinked my eyes, and suddenly they were glinting against the beautiful glare of Christmas lights everywhere. Now my birthday is less than a week away, and our family is elbow deep in holiday preparations.

Oh, how I love this time of year! So what have we been up to lately? I thought you’d never ask! ;)

First, armed with Black Friday fliers, both kiddos constructed their annual cut-and-paste lists. Ava actually invented these little beauties a few years ago (you know, before she could write down her wishes), and this time around Hudson became an expert gluer and plunged whole-heartedly into the project. How fun! Plus, they really help us shoppers find just the right thing!

Then it was time for decorating! Boy, I had a couple of eager helpers this year. Between the lights, the ornaments, the ribbon, and the bows, it was a pure Christmas fest. We started with the tree and worked out way through the house. We even played Christmas music and finished by watching a few holiday movies as well.

Last year, sadly, our usual Christmas tree train broke, leaving me worried about finding an affordable replacement. Luckily, I found something even better at Toys R Us this year. It’s a special train that attaches to your actual Christmas tree and becomes an interactive feature within the already decorated boughs. Cool, eh? We thought so. (And yes, I did consider writing a separate post about our attempts to install this wonder of Christmas trains, but decided against it. Let’s just say that three people in tears was well worth the end result..lol). Hopefully this one will last longer than its more traditional predecessor did.

Between singing Christmas carols, watching our favorite holiday flicks, and shopping for those special gifts, we also managed to add one more merry addition to our already Christmas-crazed home. Meet Happy:

Yes, we did it. We welcomed an Elf on the Shelf to our home. I’ve considered it for awhile now, but Ava finally put her foot down and demanded one. We found this little guy on a random day of shopping on Fourth Street, and haven’t regretted his purchase at all. Both kids try to behave so that Happy will have good things to report, and finding his new spot each morning has become a competition of epic proportions.

Of course, Happy’s first place of rest was a meaningful one: watching over Baby Jesus in our Nativity scene. Even among all the fun festivities that come with Christmas, we try to reinforce its true meaning. We read books about the first Christmas, play with our Little People Nativity set, and constantly reference the reason for the season. It’s not magical for nothing!

Well, there’s a none-too-brief recap of our December thus far. If you’re still reading, bravo—and have a delightful holiday season as well.