It's Christmas Time!!

Well, December is almost over and I have hardly posted anything about what we have been doing. We have had lots of fun at our house, but as usual the holiday season is flying by and I haven't been able to do hardly anything I wanted to. Maybe if I start now for next year EVERYTHING will get done and maybe I will have time to sit, relax, and enjoy. (nahhhhh....it wouldn't be the holidays if I wasn't busy, busy, busy...right???)

Right after we got home from spending Thanksgiving in Branson I wanted to get the house decorated and the Christmas tree up!!! Decorating the Christmas tree is one of my favorite things to do with the kids. Each year they get to pick out an ornament, so when it is time to get all the ornaments out - they are so excited and love putting all of "their" ornaments in a pile. I have a list of who's is who's, but they seem to never forget!! It is fun to hear the, "oh, I remember this one" and "this one is my favorite!". The kids each hang their ornaments...when all is said and done, the tree is full of great memories!!! Most years I have to do a little "remodeling" of the tree to spread some ornaments out, but this year I figured I would leave it just the way the kids decorated it!!! And it looked great!!! A little ornament heavy in some areas, but still fabulous!!Keeping with tradition, once the kids decorated the tree and went off to bed, I hid the pickle in the tree for them to find. This year I was certain I found the best hiding place EVER!!! When they woke up, they hurried to the tree to search for the pickle. A day went by, then two, then three....they begged and begged for a hint!!! I gave in, once I gave the hint of which side of the tree it was on, BOOM - it was found!!! Jordan was the first to find it this year!!! I believe that is two years in a row. (according to her) Alright - next year... NO HINTS!!!!

With all the fun of decorating the tree, we figured why not decorate the kids too!!! We had such a good time wrapping the kids with lights and decorating them!!I remember when I was little and my parents would do the same to me! Cody was so excited he wanted to be first!!!Chase had to have his Longhorn hat as the finishing touch!
Sporting her art clothes, Paige made the cutest little tree.Thank you Jordan for being a good sport. I hope you realize you will never be too old :) You are so good to humor your mother and never complain!!Decorating the Christmas tree is a fun thing our family does together each year. But even more fun are the memories we make while doing it! There always seems to be some crazy thing going on! But in the end, I hope the kids remember these moments for years to come. It is the simple thing of decorating the Christmas tree that I will cherish for a lifetime!!