Getting in the Spirit

I got started on Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving weekend this year! Feeling eager to enjoy the holiday season with the kids definitely prompted my earlier than usual efforts. And it has been magical every step of the way.

Part I: Decorating Around the House

 

One of the first things I did was set out our Christmas friends.

The kids knew instinctively what to do with these snuggly characters.

We also got the lights in all the windows!

That's always one of the gestures that makes it feel official. The house beckons to you as you arrive home after dark and has an extra warmth with the soft glow coming from the windows as you head up to bed.

Inside we got a few more special items set up, like...

 the wooden sleigh and reindeer crafted by the kids' great grandpa,

the snowman with twins gifted by my best friend from college's mom,

and the hand-carved wooden Santa, who has a tradition of joining our ladybug in the window (They look rather random, but actually serve the purpose of being the recipient of "wake-up" kisses when we come down the stairs in the morning or after naps.)

Part II: The Tree

The next weekend it was time for the tree!

Nothing beats cutting down your own tree from a well run tree farm, which we learned about when we lived in New England for a stint. But we have a couple local nurseries that always have a good selection, so that's where we go. There's an old friend out there who has earned an "I told you so." The wife of a coaching colleague of Mike's had us over for a holiday dinner years ago. They had a couple of kids already, and the wife commented on how crazy the ornament placement was on their tree because the kids had helped. I have always been...um...precise we'll say, about ornaments. (Sets or like ornaments should be equally distributed, everything should hang facing out -not twisted to the side, heavy ornaments always go on first so you can find the strongest branches for them -nothing should rest on the branches below, select ornaments -especially those that reflect the tree lights- should be set in the tree to add depth...words other than "precise" may be coming to mind!) So, Mike commented that I would never give up tree decorating to the kids or at least wouldn't allow disorder. The wife said, "I was like that before kids, you'll let it go." I smiled politely and probably said something like, "Probably," while thinking, "That's fine that you did, but not me." Well, she was right. The top of our tree was still pretty precise, but the bottom was a hot mess. What she didn't tell me, but I know she knew, is that not only would I let it go, but I would actually love the disorder! It was Jack and Malynn's disorder, they owned every bit of it, so how could I not love it. :)

Part III: Holiday Card Pictures

I was pouring over pictures from the last few months for something to use for the holiday card and having no luck. Mike had the great idea of simply putting on our red and white shirts with jeans and doing a little photo shoot around the tree after naps the next day. It worked like a charm.

I love these simple pictures of Jack snuggling with our Christmas friends.

 

Malynn was a little hestitant about it all; she is our slow-waker-upper.

  

But we got into playing with the beads and she slowly but surely got into it with us.

 

We even pulled off some cute family pictures...

 

We got "sweet."

We got "classic."

And our favorite, we got "silly."

Part IV: Pictures for Papa's Good Night Book

Papa wrote an endearing "Good Night" story about everyone settling in at their respective houses each night for bedtime. We decided to mobilize and get it published as a photo book and give it to him for Christmas. Here are a couple we took that give you a glimpse of what the most important part of bedtime at our house looks like...snuggles and stories in the "big ol'" chair.

 

It was extra perfect that the story Daddy happened to be reading that night was The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Jan Brett. This story gets most of the credit for teaching Malynn and Jack about the critical elements of Christmas: Santa has a white beard and red coat, reindeer pull his sleigh using magic to fly, he brings gifts to good girls and boys and puts them in stockings hung by the fire place (though other hanging locations are acceptable if you don't have a fireplace), he won't be ready until Christmas Eve, and he only comes to your house once everyone is asleep. We have a conversation rehashing these details often, and read The Night Before Christmas almost every day. Getting this Christmas business all figured out is high priority!