I woke up this morning (at the late hour of 8:00AM!) to the sounds of Jay pulling Christmas decoration boxes from our secret closet (a closet within a closet, if you will). I had mentioned upon arriving home last night that the only thing my tired and weary and sore body wanted to do all day was decorate for Christmas. And eat massive amounts of food. So being the awesome husband that he is, he got right on that!
Highlight of James' morning? Discovering an OLD piece of candy in a stocking (one of the ones that Jean used to make yearly, BEFORE James was born) that we haven't used in years...
Cora was thrilled to be ALLOWED up on the step stool for once! (Jay tried everything he could to encourage the kids to place ornaments in more than one location, but they really had their mind set on "my side" of the tree vs. everyone else's side.) Please notice our helpers... Superhero Cora (though she IS wearing her infant-sized Christmas tutu from her dress-up drawer) and Stonehead James (we do Halloween all year round at our house).
Ah... this would be right after Cora broke an ornament. And not just any ornament, but the one Jean made us after our wedding, which contained sand and seashells from the beach where we had our reception. At this point we were both reminding Jay that things are things, and things are replaceable. Cora was banished to the couch until the glass and sand was vacuumed up... (And luckily, that was the only ornament that suffered at the hands of the kids this year, the first year that we've really let them go all out and do most of the ornament hanging themselves.)
The Christmas card tree is just hanging out, waiting for your lovely faces...
After the ornament busting meltdown, Jay retreated to the great outdoors to start working on his new Christmas light project for this year. It's going to be cool. The kids and I enjoyed a picnic lunch of corn-dogs on the walkway steps, since the kitchen table was covered in Christmas paraphernalia.
The best part about setting up the tree (for me, the kids, AND Jay) was putting together the electric train that we scored on a Black Friday sale. It's the Polar Express and it's the neatest thing! Super realistic, heavy duty engine, lights and sounds and smoke! I've honestly always wanted a train to go around my Christmas tree, so I told Jay this was as much a present for me as it is the kids. It even has Tom Hanks yelling "All aboard!"
Things are looking mighty festive in here... Even Ralphie reappeared tonight!
As we did last year and the year before (it's tradition now!), the kids are opening one wrapped book each night between December 1st and 25th as their Christmas advent. (And yes, Gramma brought them the little chocolate advents again this year too!)
Speaking of Gramma, she and I finally got around to making the wreath for our front door that she purchased for us back before James was born. We arranged, then rearranged the bits and pieces (after the kids did their own versions of decorating the wreath), then hot-glued everything in place (with one casualty - my middle finger) and hung it up on the front door. It's sparkly and gorgeous and I love it! Thank you Jean! And I'm glad you were here to finally kick my booty in gear to get it done, share your creative juices, and man the glue gun once I wimped-out with my Hello Kitty band-aid...
No comments:
Post a Comment