Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Christmas is one of my most favorite times of years. Christmas decorations, Christmas Carols, all the hustle and bustle. And most of all I get to share with my boys the most important reason for the season: Christ's birth. I asked Tate the other day what Christmas was really about, his response "Giving and Jesus' birthday". I love all the fun of the season, but I always want my boys to remember that precious baby who came to earth so long ago.

This year we "adopted" a little boy from our Christmas for Kids program at church. His name is Isaiah, and he is 5 years old. Tate and I went one Friday night and went shopping for Isaiah, I dropped his gifts off at church on Monday night. Tate had a lot of fun shopping for his "new friend". Im not quite sure that he truly understands the concept behind helping those who may not be as fortunate as us. But hopefully, in a few years, he will understand.

I wanted to share some of my "favorites" from around our house this time of year....



My little artist has been busy at work. He is insisting on coloring pictures to cover all of our cabinets. My mom used to decorate her kitchen with all our holiday artwork. The difference is, that Tate wants to fill the whole kitchen in one day. :) I keep trying to explain to him that he will make plenty of pictures at school for him to decorate with. By the end of this Christmas Im afraid my kitchen may be one large Christmas coloring book.



May I introduce Christopher-Pop-in-Kins? He is a new addition to our Holiday season. Chris showed up on our doorstep Thanksgiving Day. Apparently he made a deal with Santa to visit real boys and girls until Christmas Eve and keep an eye on them for him. He occasionally "pops" out while we are sleeping and reports to Santa on Tate and Daytons behavior. We always know when he has been gone, he ends up in a different place in the house when he returns. So far Chris seems to have had a pretty positive effect.



One of my favorite decorations are these "star" ornaments that we found in the basement of my Grandaddy's house when we were cleaning it out this past summer. They are from when my dad was young. I love having a memory of my grandparents near on Christmas.

I will finish with a family tradition that I started with Tate. Every year the boys each get an ornament of their choosing. Of course the first year they both have their first Christmas ornament. Then Tate has a Tractor (2007), Batman (2008), A Power Ranger (2009) and this year, of course, is Iron Man. Dayton isnt really old enough to "choose" his. I had a really hard time deciding too. He loves music, so I thought I would find something musical and kidproof. I found an old Fisher Price Ornament on Ebay that plays "Oh Christmas Tree". Its plastic, so totally kidproof. He seemed to approve. Here is a picture of the ornaments and then of the boys showing them off. I think I will make the picture a tradition too. :)