Preparing

We pulled out our ornaments and the tiny Charlie Brown tree, turned on the Christmas music and enjoyed decorating. Patrick was especially fascinated with the lights and ornaments. He was also very adamant about wearing his scarf. Very festive, don't you think?

The boys couldn't keep their little paws off of the delicate ornaments at first. They're a little better now, so maybe next year, we'll graduate to a real tree. It was so fun to see the boys' "Baby's first Christmas" ornaments with their pictures in them. They already have their own favorites. All of a sudden, it feels like we're making special family memories.

Scott and I are also trying very hard to celebrate Advent with the children. We have an advent wreath, but saying prayers is hard since they can't read yet. I love nativity sets. Some of them the boys know not to touch, but two sets are only for playing. Joe was taking a baby Jesus around to his brothers the other day and having them give the baby a kiss. I had to stop the exercise in piety when poor Jesus ended up in Andrew's mouth. Can you just imagine the headline if he had choked to death!

St. Nick is scheduled to arrive at our house this evening. We've set out some banana bread for him and some carrots for his horse Amerigo. Patrick really wanted to make sure we left him some water, too. I'm sure we'll post pictures, like we do every year. Is this blog starting to be a little redundant?