Us4Motts: Christmas Time is Here!

For me, Christmas officially starts the day after Thanksgiving. Going out shopping on Black Friday just puts me in the spirit! Since I am home, I feel that I am really able to enjoy the setting up and decorating part of the holiday even more. I am feeling less rushed and pressured and like we can really enjoy it. And that's pretty much what we have been doing - enjoying all the traditions and decorating and now...just waiting and enjoying each day. I am pretty much done shopping, so that is even better! Mark doesn't have anytime off, expect the weekend of Christmas, which is a bummer, but we will make the most of it. I am just thankful his hours aren't crazy long and he is home relatively early each day.

My mom made us a beautiful box with drawers to store a little treat for each day of this month to count down to Christmas. The kids started last night and enjoyed their little chocolate coin. The day after Thanksgiving we rounded up the kids and went to our favorite tree farm deep in Hillsboro. It was a beautiful sunny day and after about a 15 minute walk around the property, we found our tree! Before we went, we decided this year, we needed to tone it down a bit. In years past we always looked for the biggest tree and we have had to move out half our furniture to make room for it. Not practical. We had a spot picked out, about the only spot left in our house, and that's about all the room we had. We ended up with a beautiful noble. A perfect fit. Healthy, full, but not to full and strong enough to hold our growing assortment of ornaments. Mark sets up the tree and puts on the lights. Mel has become the designated decorator and this year, John even helped. It was awesome and the tree is just beautiful! I love our traditions and memories we have created in our little family...This year we added John's Polar Express train around the tree. It stayed for about one day. He just would rather play with it I suppose. Am I surprised??? No...Sunday Mark started putting the lights outside and I got the inside decorated. It's all coming together for sure :-)

Other than that, we have a full month planned. I got our family pictures back yesterday and I am SO happy with them. They are the first GOOD group shots we have gotten since John has been born. We got a good family shot and a few of the kids as well. I never thought it would happen with John's indifference to set up shots. But, we had a really good photographer and we got photos I have been wanting to get for a long time. (The first photo above is our "family" photo).

This weekend we are joining some friends for a train ride over by Oaks Park. John is still quite obsessed with trains and its fun watching him enjoy it, so we try and experience all we can in that regard. There is a free event in Hillsboro on Saturday with a Santa, Farmers Market and crafts, so we may try that out as well. I imagine somewhere in the next couple weeks there may be a trip to the mall for more Santa photos - unless we get one at the Hillsboro event...although John will probably NOT be participating again..oh well. :-) My sister, her hubby, sweet Natalie and Brian's mom will be here for a week around Christmas. I can't wait. We have lots planned and will have a full Christmas for sure. It's been pretty quiet during the holidays since my sister moved away, so I am looking forward to having more family around. It's the type of Christmas I remember and I can't wait to share that with my kids too. John is getting more aware of what is going on as well and it's just magical to me. I love experiencing the holiday through my kids!