Tis' the Season to Decorate!

The Christmas season is even shorter this year since Thanksgiving is the last week of November, leaving only three short weeks to celebrate. This is sad because even on a normal year, the time flies by, I just want to slow things down, make it last. Anyways, I used that as the excuse to set up the trees, the weekend after Halloween! lol! I put the lights on but that was it, I still left fall decor out for Thanksgiving. I really love Fall as well so I don't want to short that season either! These dogs make good photo subjects and it's their first holiday season so they are front and center in most pics..lol!

I know as the kids get older, some things change and we lose interest in some of the more kid-ish traditions. That makes me want to make new ones and include the kids in what we decide to do. It's definitely more fun if everyone is enjoying it. I asked Blake if there were any Christmas season traditions that he was looking forward to. He said that he definitely wanted to go see Christmas lights, but not the same house we have gone to the last couple years. Once we've seen it, we've seen it...maybe a new drive-through somewhere... And he really wanted to go down to Main Street in St. Charles to join in their Christmas celebration. They have all the lights, reindeer, carriage rides & Santas from around the world. I am so glad I asked him, and that he had an opinion on things to do as a family. Thanks God!

Since the whole family is coming to Thanksgiving, we decided to put the outside lights up the weekend before. It was 60 degrees and sunny so that sure helped! Billy & I got everything down and ready, we called the kids out to do the fun part. Blake had an idea how to do the front lights while Billy hung the snowflakes from the roof. Taylor must not have been that "into" it this year, because she was bummed that she couldn't stay inside to finish homework. She ended up doing a great job at decorating the little pine. Billy and Blake circled the big maple with strands of lights. When it got dark, we made hot cocoa and took the pups out to join us as we lit it up. It was bright and cheery and ready for the season!

The weekend right after Thanksgiving, we took down the fall decor and brought up the rest of the Christmas stuff, including the box of special ornaments. We always make it an evening, that we decorate the tree and read the memories in each one. We ended up doing it on Saturday evening. Both kids came down, Blake got a big glass of egg nog and pumpkin pie to start the night with. We dug out the ornaments and hung them one by one, being careful not to place any too low on the tree because our lil' Millie pup would definitely love to eat them! We read the memories and reminisced about the years passed. It was simple this year, the tree looks beautiful! The kids don't have their special ornaments to unwrap and place on the tree yet this year but I have them ordered. They were understanding, as Blake's was handmade and personalized and Tay wanted to pick her own. lol!