We are ready for Christmas!

SEASON'S GREETINGS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We are ready at least as far as the decorating is concerned. As for gift giving, I'm not even close. Not even a little bit.
The boys are excited by the decorations, and I have them doing a couple of advent calendars to count down to Christmas. My favorite of these is a fun one that Matt's Grandma helped everyone make a few years ago. Her kids all had one like it, so Matt used one almost exactly like this when he was growing up. In my opinion, that makes it even more special. Here is a pic of it:
There is a little ornament made out of felt and pom pom's for every pocket except for the 24th. There is a little baby Jesus for that pocket and he goes in the manger on Christmas eve. Grandma's version used pins to hook the ornaments on, but I got a little overzealous with the glue when I made mine, making the use of pins impossible. I improvised with magnets, and I am really glad I did. The boys don't need my help to put the ornaments on and it's safer.

This tree is Matt's mom's tree. She keeps it in her nicer front room with only the white lights so it looks really elegant. I love it's look, but thought it was a little plain in the daytime without the lights on. So I had my awesome grandma crochet (the one craft method I DON"T do) me a bunch of pretty snowflakes to put on it. I really like how it turned out.

This is just another shot of that tree in the daytime without the lights.


Truth be told, this is my mother-in-law's tree too, but the ornaments are mine. Her tree is bigger than mine and looks better in the bigger house. It's also her tree skirt. I have put one on my list of things to make for next year. Matt was excited when I put it under the tree. He said to me, "Do you know how many of my greatest presents were stacked on this tree skirt growing up?" I am glad he is getting to soak in a little of his childhood again. And in this picture you can also see our exciting train!
So we at least look like we are ready for Christmas, even if it only took us a week to get it all up. Two boys can be so distracting when you are trying to get anything done. I love it though. We are having a blast watching them discover the excitement of the holiday season. We took the boys to one of FM100's christmas concerts in the mall. Steven was so excited to see the decorations and the guys playing guitars. He also got some hot chocolate. I think the hot chocolate was his favorite part. He drank all of his and then he was nice enough to help me finish mine! Sammy liked the hot chocolate too, although, he only got a tiny taste.