Getting Ready for Christmas

I have had such a good time decorating our home for Christmas this year. It is usually an enjoyable process, but I guess since it's a new house, all of our old stuff somehow feels more new too as I figure out where it should go. We have WAY fewer shrubs at this house than our old one, so I don't have quite as many lights outside...this year! But I'm prepared for when we do more landscaping! My big investment in decor this year was on red berry wreaths to hang on the inside of all our windows on the first floor. It is so cheerful to see all those wreaths--I'm going to be sad to take them down. Who knows, perhaps some will stay up year-round?

For the first time ever, we have room in our family room for a Christmas tree. It is so nice to be able to sit by the light of the tree while watching TV in the evenings. We're actually enjoying the tree so much more than in the past when it has always been in a living room, which tended to be away from our daily activity. Of course, its home in our family room has had a down side--the girls have been much more interested in it and we have lost (and when I say "lost" I mean "broke") 2 of our ornaments so far this year... Ah well, such is life. They weren't ones that I absolutely loved! I also justified the purchase of a large mirror for over our fireplace as a "Christmas decoration" although I am going to keep it up all year long! I got it for $45 at Ross, and love finally having something large and substantial above the fireplace.

So now that the house is decorated, I've moved on to the Christmas card project. I can't believe that it's only December 6th and I already have all my cards made, the letter written, and the pictures taken and developed. Now all I need to do is sign them, address the envelopes and stuff them. Sigh. Still a lot to do, but at least it's the 6th and not the 16th!

Mom and Dad are coming down to visit us on Friday now, and we have some fun things planned for while they're here: we're going to visit Santa (it'll be interesting to see who sits on his lap this year...), build and decorate a gingerbread house, bake cut-out cookies, and mom is going to teach me to make yeast bread. It should be a fun visit for all of us.

And two days after they leave I'm hosting our neighborhood's cookie exchange! We're up to 10 definite participants with three days left to RSVP to me. Given the fact that I only invited 24 other women, I'd say that's a pretty good response. So I'll be dusting off Aunt Melanie's egg nog recipe, whipping up 7 dozen cookies to exchange and a variety of appetizers for us to munch on (changing it up a bit this year). I think Kevin's looking forward to the exchange even more than I am, cookie monster that he is. Imagine his disappointment when he discovers that I've turned into the cookie nazi and am not allowing anyone to bring chocolate chip cookies this year!

And as we prepare our home for the holiday season, I am also working to prepare our hearts for the celebration of our Savior's birth. What an exciting time of year!