It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Seasons greetings! For your viewing pleasure (we hope!), please allow us to present our 2009 family Christmas tree:


Connor and Noah picked it out, and did a very nice job selecting a nice, fat soft-bristled tree that smells divine! And then all three kiddos did the decorations pretty much by themselves, allowing me to lounge on my tushie with a hot chocolate, just enjoying the sights of my living room.


And the most astounding sight to see were all three of my little cherubs actually getting along, singing together, and decorating the tree (I think there was only one scuffle about the proper placement of an ornament and only one broken ornament). It surely IS the season of miracles!


I absolutely LOVE this photo of Noah - either he's squealing in glee about Christmas presents or he's shrieking about Connor grabbing him in an awkward spot. And Shelby is just rolling her eyes at them - as we keep telling her, "Shelby, for better or for worse, they're your brothers forever."

And finally, here's our Christmas Advent calendar - you know, where you open a new picture each day of December, but with a twist - chocolate on each day! My mom made this for my brother and I and it was always our most favorite holiday decoration and tradition, and it's SOOOOO much fun to be using the same one, now for my kids! They love it as much as I do/did. Well, almost. I remember that one year I took most of the candies off and ate them all at once, and then sneakily replaced them later - now that is true advent calendar devotion, my friends. When my kids start doing stuff like that, well....I'll be so proud of their ingeniousness!

Happy holidays!