the tree is up

a record for me! before Thanksgiving....
Well, I have a baby shower to thank for that! I'm hosting one here on Wednesday and wanted to get it up before we left for Idaho (another post that may take me a month of two to get up! haha!)


I think my favorite thing about Christmas is the curiosity a child has for a "Chrissmee" as Sarah calls it.

So sweet...

The night I got it up, Mark posed as Santa and all the kids took turns sitting on "Santa's" lap to tell him what they wanted for Christmas... Rowan & Sarah both wanted "books", (wow, so easy!) A short while later, our poor "Santa" fell asleep on his "Santa" chair while Rowan was piling toys all around him (toys that Santa was going to take to all the good boys and girls...) So, when Mark/Santa woke up, Rowan asked,

"So, how was it?"
Mark: "How was what?"
Rowan: "Your first day?"
Mark: "My first day? As what?"
Rowan: "How was your first day as Santa?"

LOVE this age and how their sweet little minds work.

I usually have a stressful, yucky feeling this time of year because of all it brings... visit here
to see why... but this year feels different already (maybe it's getting my tree up so early!). We are staying home this year, just us, no travel plans and that just makes me happy... (as much as I love to visit family during the holidays... it's a ton of work with little kids!! Ours are still just a bit on the young side to be doing much of that work for themselves.... so packing and dragging and dealing with 4 people's luggage and children that get sick in the winter and sleep terribly in other places besides their own beds, makes traveling especially difficult!)

But, this year feels different. This year has an excitement and anticipation to it and I'm actually really looking forward to spending Christmas here with my little family starting our own traditions despite all the "busyness" that comes with this time of year.