It's beginning to look alot like....

Christmas! Saying that we LOVE to decorate for Christmas around here would be quite an understatement. We have five large bins of decorations, and a few more loose boxes that don't fit in those bins. Kevin actually told me yesterday, with a smile, that if I didn't love to decorate for this season as much as he does, we just might have serious issues. My usually overly-frugal husband does not mind going a bit overboard for this season. His son is no different, and had hounded us for days to decorate our 10 foot tall tree, which we were waiting to do for time with all of us home. Little Man could hardly bear waiting to get out the ornaments until Daddy was home, he would beg me several times a day. And now that all of our trees are decorated, he still begs me to do more. So yes, we do love to spruce the place up!

We have also had several visits to Santa this year, and neither kid is afraid of him but excitedly run to him to chat his ear off. I can see the helpless look in Santa's eye when he has no idea how to answer the many questions bombarding him, like "how many elves do you have" and "can I borrow one of your reindeer?". Little Miss likes to pet his beard and smile sweetly as she asks Santa for candles, and Little Man wants to know if his Hot Wheels car-color-changer he has asked for will be made of wood or something else. Though not obvious in this photo, the kids are rambling on about how excited they are, having lots of questions for Santa and giving the specifics of what they would like.

This year we have extra eyes to spruce up our home for, as family will be traveling west to stay with us. We'll have Grammy, aunts and uncles, and cousins, all under our roof! I am extremely excited, and maybe a bit nervous for any meltdowns that might occur, to see our children experience Christmas morning excitement with their cousins. We each have our own little elves that have been keeping an eye on things and reporting to Santa, so the kids' excitement grows more each day. We have named our elf Henry and this is his second year visiting our home. The kids have so much fun locating his new spot each morning. Cousin George will be visiting us as well, and we are looking forward to the two elves meeting.

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6, and though we don't have a hearth, we set out shoes by our door, and wouldn't you know it, St. Nick made a visit on his white horse, leaving coins, candy, straws, and a request that each time we use our straws we remember to keep in our prayers those who don't have warm beds to sleep in or warm food to eat.

We have had many conversations about not what we seek, but what we have been given when Jesus came to us as a baby. We will be making a birthday cake with our family to celebrate the reason we have this season to give and receive. And we've made a wish list for Jesus, talking about some things we can do for others, and so for Him.

There is just so much to enjoy about this time of year, and we are joyously celebrating the magic, the anticipation, and the meaning of it all.