1 Corinthians 16:14 ~ Do everything in love.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Holly and Jolly!

Holy Cow!!!
It can't be December already?
Weren't my kids just dressed up in Halloween costumes?
And how did November start and end before I could even register
that it was actually November.
Somebody...slow this life down like NOW...please.

So yea - it's December which means there is high excitement and high energy levels at our house. Before we left on the cruise...remember that...not even a mere week ago; we had the inside of the house ready to go for Christmas.

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care...
Our banisters were lit up with a mix of red and white lights...


And of course my favorite Christmas decoration of all time, (the ceramic light up Christmas tree that was my grandmother's) was placed perfectly in it's spot next to the nativity set. The only thing missing was our Christmas tree, which we promptly purchased the night we arrived back from the cruise. Bryan and I were beat after our travels so we pushed the tree decorating off until the next day.

The girls were itching to decorate the tree and were literally oozing with anticipation as I unpacked all the ornaments and laid them out on the dining room table. Each of the kids has their own box of ornaments. I let them buy any ornament they want each year to add to their collection and typically they get a few more given to them as well. I write their initials and date on the bottom of each ornament along with who gave it to them if it was a gift. Each kiddo gets to put their own ornaments on the tree each year, which they think is the coolest thing ever. One day when my babes move out on their own they will have their own little ornament collection to take with them! Hopefully they will think this is as cool as I think it is.


The girls were in heaven decorating the tree and the boy had no interest what-so-ever as he was playing with his race cars.
The tree is finished and looks lovely. I can't really take any credit for the end result because I didn't hang many ornaments at all since I was taking photos. So what you see is mostly the work of Bryan and the girls.

This year I'm trying out a new "tradition" if you will with the kids. Instead of doing the standard advent calendar I'm doing a book countdown until Christmas. (I got the idea off of Pinterest). Each night (we started on December 1)the kids can take turns unwrapping one book to read before bed. The books all deal with Christmas or winter in some way or another. My hope is we can make this a tradition in our home and add a new book or two to our collection as the years go by. I was short a couple of books so I ended up picking up a few fillers from the thrift store to get us through this year. The kids were so excited to read the first book and for a solid 15 minutes I had the full attention of 3 kids. Success! Sydney had the honor of choosing the first book and she picked A Bad Kitty Christmas (The Bad Kitty books are pretty cute). GREAT book if your looking for a fun Christmas book by the way.
The books all wrapped up!

So as you can see, Christmas celebrations are in full swing here at the Jones house. I can't wait to experience all the magic this month has to offer. Watching the kids enjoy this time of year makes me one happy mom!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

LOVE all your family traditions! The book countdown (advent calendar) is such a great idea- might have to steal that one. Thanks for sharing. My mom did the ornament tradition every year with my brother and sure enough when I went away to college I had a box full of ornaments given to me by mom. It was so special. I hope I can do the same for Madeline. SooO jealous that you have 3 little ones to share these traditions with!