Holiday Happenings

My blog has been pretty much non-existent since my camera broke at the beginning of November. Luckily my mother came to my rescue and got me a new one for Christmas!! It's fancy, and yes, I know it should be under the tree still , but she lives hours away and even though I'm sure she rolled her eyes when I told her that I was already using it, she's knows I've been opening my gifts before it was time since I was old enough to walk. She tells this horrific story about buying me shoes one year for Christmas. The gist of it is this : I opened them one morning, wore them to school, re-wrapped them. She'd lead you to believe she was forever scarred as a parent, but don't let her fool you, she finds it funny :)

I've been reading a few other blogs lately about holiday traditions. One holiday tradition that is among my top 5 easily is the Christmas Card. I LOVE sending and receiving Christmas cards. Even if I have read every post the person had on Facebook all year, I still cannot wait to read their letter! I'm like a kid in the candy store when the cards begin arriving. You can ask my husband, he thinks I'm crazy!! I will hold up the unopened envelopes and with sheer excitement say things like, "I can't wait to see their picture!" or maybe, "what do you think made the letter this year?" I love addressing them, I love placing the giant stack into the mailbox on December 1st (also a tradition of mine) and I especially love the day that you get the mail and it is ALL Christmas cards!!! It's one of my favorite days of the year usually around the 22nd and it is a day I smile all afternoon. I'm an old fashioned card nerd, it's okay I accept it!

Our entire Church is focusing on the Advent Season this year and anticipation of- as well as preparation for the Christ Child's arrival. I love advent at church and as Luke has been preaching about what true anticipation means I have seen it this year in my own home. I had forgotten what pure anticipation really looks like until I saw my little Joshua's excitement beginning to build. My heart overflows with joy as I watch his eyes light up every morning when he glimpses the tree lit in the living room. The other day he asked me , "Is Christmas coming to Colorado yet?" Almost, I told him about a week and a half still. I could see him trying to contain the excitement and think about something else, but inevitably he circled around the tree and curled up on the couch just starring at the lights, waiting for Christmas. The Lord uses my kids to open my eyes to so many things and this very instance is one of those times. What are the things that I can't get out of my head this Christmas season? The bills that need paying, the baking that should get done, the gifts that need wrapping, or is it the Birth of our Savior! I know what I want it to be.

We let the kids help decorate the tree for the first time ever this year. It was exciting, overwhelming, fun, and stressful all wrapped into one 30 min decoration session! As heirloom ornaments whizzed by and I told myself "if they break they are just things." I honestly loved seeing my kids looking at each ornament and placing it (sometimes) lovingly on the tree. The clear favorite this year is the Charlie Brown ornament. The boys are Charlie Brown Crazy this season. I think that I got the ornament in a bag of candy a few years back and just never threw it away. So glad now that I didn't actually throw it away because it has been truly loved this year. My current favorite is a set of red, glass, candle ornaments that clip onto the branches. For years growing up my parents had a "candle tree" we had real candles that looked almost identical to these glass ones. My dad would light the candles on Christmas eve while we played games and opened presents and then again on Christmas morning while ate our big Christmas meal. Even though these candles aren't real, they remind me of home.

This morning we worked hard on the kids' Christmas t-shirts, which is becoming a little bit of a tradition I guess. Last year the boys made reindeer shirts and this year it's wreaths!!!! They turned out super cute I think and of course the kids love them.

Lastly Joshua was really wanting me to take a picture of him being a "sickie" he is actually feeling much better but loves to draw out the attention for as long as he can. He successfully made a little "sick bed" for himself on the couch and is happily watching  A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.