And So the Season Begins!

I love the Christmas season!  And tonight it finally feels official to me because we finally got our lights and ornaments up, but they are not on a tree!  We are not doing a tree this year because our wood stove dries it out so fast we can't get it any sooner than 1 week before Christmas.  This year we are going to be at my mom's for the week before Christmas - so this year there is no tree and it made me sad.  What I miss most about the tree is the lights and ornaments.  So I got creative and decided to do a Christmas window.  Our big living room window is now all decked out!  The boys had a great time helping and I can now sit and bask in the soft glittering glow.

This time of year also brings out one of my favorite traditions - the Book Basket.  Each year I wrap up 25 Christmas books and the boys get to take turn unwrapping one each night, then we read it together before bed.  It has taken awhile to get up to the full 25 books.  Thank goodness for thrift stores and dollar stores!

That is where I have found some of my favorites, like a tattered and worn old copy of The Polar Express.

Tonight was Danny's turn.  He loves this so much that I have to keep the basket up high, out of his reach, or he would unwrap them all!  And one of his newest things is to hide behind objects when I try to take a picture of him.  What a silly boy!

 

Austin looks so grown up to me in this picture!

Another favorite of ours is the wood puzzle Nativity.  It took a long time to cut it all out (Thanks Dad!) and paint it but it was so worth it!  I love having a Nativity that the boys can play with.  They got the Little People Nativity last year for Christmas and they like that one too, but this one is just the best.  Danny pulls it out and puts it back together at least 10 times a day!

 

And then we have my Nativity.  My "keep yours hands off it boys!" Nativity

I am making good progress on the rest of my Christmas To Do list.  I got my Christmas cards started tonight.  90% of the gifts are finished and ready to be wrapped.  I do still need to finish making Danny's stocking.  I think he would notice that he doesn't have one this year!  I hope to get most of this finished this week because things start to get busy this weekend!

Our ward Christmas party is this weekend and all of us have parts!  Bryce is the dad, I am the mom, Austin is a shepherd and Danny is a sheep.  I need to figure out how to make a shepherds crook too!  Then Tuesday Austin will, hopefully, have his 3 minor surgeries (keep your fingers crossed he doesn't get sick again!).  Then Austin's Christmas Gingerbread house decorating party at school, packing for a week at my mom's and a week there full of family, back home in time to spend Christmas with Bryce, then family visiting here, Austin's 7th birthday, and then back up to my mom's for a day in the snow to celebrate Austin's birthday, and the annual Jukes family New Years Day Shoot Out!

Whew!  It's going to be all sorts of fun!  But I think I better go get busy working on something . . .