Christmas is Here

We finally did it, we put up the tree and the rest of the Christmas decorations. Katie had already been after me about getting up the decorations she wants them up the first week of December. I have to say this year I’m glad we did, there are so many new things that we are doing as a family and I’m really looking forward to the holidays this year.

As you notice here’s our tree, there is quite an assortment of ornaments on it and garland which Katie loves…I prefer tinsel. It actually looks like it may be the last year for this artificial tree. We’ve had it for 5 Christmases now and its beginning to get a little ratty. Notice all the non-breakable ornaments on the bottom, its so Olivia will learn to treat the ornaments gently.

Underneath the tree we have a nativity set for Olivia to play with. It’s a Veggie Tales decoration, unfortunately Baby Jesus, and the French Pea’s (who play the sheep) are currently MIA, but I’ll have you know that Jimmy and Jerry play the part of the cow.

This year we also decided to do a family advent wreath. And before anyone says anything, I know I don’t have all the right colors. First off it’s hard to find cheap non-scented purple and pink candles. Secondly these scents are actually like the holidays, pine, mulberry, and spice. Thirdly they are cheap! We couldn’t afford to buy many new decorations but the small amount for a couple of candles, fabric I already had and various books (with plates on top of them) holding the candles at different levels. The Nativity scene that is around the Advent wreath belonged to Katie’s grandmother. Katie wants to replace it with a really nice one but then the key word appears again, it’s cheaper to do it this way.

Katie also made a counter to Christmas decoration for Olivia. Its a wooden tree and presents painted with magnetic paint. Then the little ornaments are put up on it everyday until the tree is completely decorated for Christmas. Katie did it all her self, and needless to say she's very proud of it, and rightly so she should be.

Just on an aside, Katie and I went on a date Saturday night with my brother and his girl friend. We went to F&M and heard one of their orchestras play, the theme was movie music, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of the Caribbean. The music was excellent and provided us a little away time for the two of us. Also beside the corrections I need to do on all the assignments left I only have one paper left to write so you may hear more from me sooner than expected.

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