It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

...at least at our house!  The kids are so excited!  Thanksgiving weekend, we started pulling out the Christmas decorations.  As soon as the Buddy realized it, he started asking for 'christmas tree'.  And he did not let up until we set up that three the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Ornaments have been moved several times and he loves to turn the lights on.  But, I'm glad they're excited.  We have also been to the Tilden Carousel.  They have beautiful lights and amazingly decorated trees.  The Princess has also had fun playing with our Fisher Price Nativity set.  I had to snap a picture of how she set it up.  She made sure all the wise men & animals are crowded in as close as possible to have the best view of Baby Jesus.  I thought that was precious.  The kids have enjoyed seeing Christmas lights as we drive around town.  They're singing Christmas songs and using the advent calendars to count down the days.  We also had some friends over to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, which was wonderful. 

One of the best things we've done was at our Family Home Evening last week.  We watched a short video about the birth of Jesus and it brought me to tears.  I just thought of how Mary must have felt being shown the stable where she knew her baby would be born.  She didn't have any other family, besides Joseph, to help her through her labor.  And then seeing the humble shepherds come to give honor to that special baby.  The video also depicted events in the ministry of Jesus and it was special to me to see what he would accomplish as an adult tied to the wonder & hope of his birth.  That really helped me feel the spirit of Christmas. 

We have some fun surprises planned, and lots more activities & time as a family to look forward to.  Enjoy the season!

P.S. The Buddy always closes his eyes in night pictures taken with the flash.  We try our best to get him to hold his eyes open!  It doesn't matter how many we take - he almost always closes his eyes!