Getting Ready for Christmas

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We LOVE Christmas at our house. My goal this year is to have all of our "preparations" done by December 18th this year - 1 week before Christmas. It always seems that we are racing around like crazy right up until 4 AM on Christmas morning. That creates for a stressful holiday season. Our motto is simplify!

That being said, there are just some traditions that you gotta do, right? :) Here's a few of the things that have been going on around our house...

Countdown to Christmas~

This year we began a new tradition. I love children's books, and since the kids are getting a little older we began a Countdown to Christmas with nighttime stories. I wrapped up 24 of our favorite Christmas stories. At the first of the month, we began choosing 1 book each night to unwrap and read at bedtime. Some of the books were more Santa-ish, but more than half were all about the birth of Jesus. The kids loved unwrapping a gift each night. And the best part was - all it took was a roll of wrapping paper and an hour of my time! I'm looking forward to doing this again next year!



Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree ~

This year we branched out (ha, ha, ha) and tried a new kind of tree. A friend told us about a local blueberry farm that had Christmas trees for sale. It was not publicized, so no one really new about it. They just had some gorgeous Noble Fir trees that they were thinning out, so they were selling them to passerbys who happened to drive on this back road. We got a 10 foot tree for a fantastic deal. We'd never tried a Noble Fir, but it was so cheap that we figured, "Why not try it this year?" Even though we didn't get the whole go-out-in-the-woods-and-chop-down-your-own-tree experience, we were very happy. The night we went to get it was cold and super foggy (hence the spots on our photos below). We were out there with headlamps on our heads. It was a fun family outing.

Addie was a perfectly patient and happy little tree hunter.

Decorating the Tree~

The kids were super excited to decorate the tree this year. They were very "helpful". At least 5 ornaments were broken within a 30 second period... oh well. We had a good time putting all the unbreakable ones on the bottom half of the tree. :)

Jason helping Avery reach the top.

Owen, trying to be very careful as he adds an ornament.

Admiring our work

I love this ornament. I gave it to Jason as a Christmas gift the first year we had Avery.

This is the view that the presents have sitting under our tree.

Christmas Eve is here...