Christmas...already??

Two truths about my life right now.  First, my camera broke this summer so I have been VERY bad about taking pictures.  Second, I really like my the way my house looks at Christmas time.  The colors are Christmas-y in nature, so when you add the stockings, tree, Poinsettias..., it just all comes together. 

I feel like I haven't posted in quite a while because I have been so bad about taking pictures (because I don't have a camera...did I mention that?  grrr.  We have been so busy lately that I feel like I haven't been able to catch my breath.  But in a good way.  Doing lots of Christmas-y things!  Last weekend we went to a Christmas in California wine party with some dear old friends and had a great time.  The kids and I have been doing fun Christmas crafts, we got to see the lighting of the Christmas tree and Santa's arrival on Marietta Square, its been a busy month!  Amongst all this, Lance has been working a lot and fighting some stomach problems.  He is starting to feel better, but the verdict is still out on the exact cause.  Its made for quite the holiday season and has made me sit back everyday and remember to be truly thankful for all of the important things in life...my family and friends!

I guess if I'm documenting the season, it should start with the arrival of the Christmas tree!  We picked it up the weekend after Thanksgiving, and what a beautiful tree we found!  It smells heavenly and I think its one of the prettiest that we've had so far!  Harrison was Daddy's big helper and helped us decorate it so beautifully.  He would pick one or two branches and put all of his ornaments on those branches.  I love it!  This beautiful tree has character!  This is the other helper that we have and here is his favorite thing to do...everyday:

Lance has had quite a few days of working at home over the past month due to his stomach, so when he is not sleeping, Harrison has been loving it!  You can tell how much he loves to be by his daddy...and you can also see why Lance doesn't work from home too often!  I was working while Davis was sleeping one afternoon and I came in the family room to check on Harrison and this is what I found:

He put his chair in front of Lance and took all of the pillows off of my bed and made a fort around Lance so he couldn't move.  It was pretty cute, I have to say.  He was in heaven.  Harrison that is.  Although, I think Lance secretly loved it too! ;)

As I said earlier, we made it up to Marietta Square to see the lighting of the tree this year.  I have always wanted to do that so we met a few friends and had a great time.  It was pretty crowded so it was a little overwhelming, but I think the kids had fun.  I tried so hard to get some good pics of the boys but it just wasn't happening.  I loved this one though...Davis is trying so hard to move the bell!

And, "Don't worry Mary, I won't let you get lost.  I will show you the way"...

I think I inherited a love for these types of pictures from my mom!  I have so many of my sisters and I, and Lance and I like this.

I found this super cute idea for a door decoration that I thought the kids would love so I set out one day to create Frosty the Doorman, as we like to call him...

Next up was Harrison's "recital" at church.  He has been going to choir at church for the past few months and they had a show for us at our church dinner last week.  It was so fun to watch him up there with his little friends just singing their hearts out.

This last week I had a gingerbread house party for Harrison's playgroup and we had a fun morning.  The big kids decorated houses (ie - ate the decorations) and the little kids had fun playing with all the trains and cars while the big kids were distracted!  Did I take a single picture?  Of course not!  Why would I have thought to do that??

We have been so fortunate lately to have such beautiful weather.  It has been in the 60's and low 70's - absolutely perfect!  I have been trying to take advantage of every second by letting the kids get outside and play.  On Wednesday afternoon, I took Harrison and Davis to their favorite park.  We stayed there for about 2 hours just running and sliding and swinging and enjoying the day.  We then headed up to Chick Fila and waited until Lance could get off of work.  A friend of mine had told us about a Christmas light display, so we drove the boys over to see it.  It is a house that is covered and lights and they have a 30 minute light show, all timed to music.  It was quite incredible but unfortunately we only stayed for about 5 minutes because Harrison crashed as soon as we pulled up.  I guess there is such thing as too much fun in one day!

Today we FINALLY went to go see Santa.  We wrote down the list of what Harrison (and Davis) wanted in case they got shy once we arrived.  I was surprised at how well Harrison did.  I could tell he was a little nervous, but he did great.  Davis had a death grip on my shirt, so here is the picture we got right before Davis started screaming...

The other major part of our holiday season has been Mungojerrie, our Elf.  He has been so much fun and has been showing up in the craziest places so he is going to get his own post in about a week.
I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season as much as we are!