lights, trees, gifts....Christmas!

A last game for cheering

Christmas is my favorite holiday, though I do love Easter. Other holidays were simply reasons to have a day off of school. Christmas and Easter...those are THE holidays. We get to celebrate through Catholic rituals, beautiful masses, and family traditions.

We're still in Advent, so it's time to repent and prepare ourselves for Christ's coming, but by the third week of Advent, we can also rejoice. This is about the time that we put up the Christmas tree, get some shopping and gift-wrapping done, and rev up the family time. 

Let's start with family...

Poppa and Milly

photo op with our first
Christmas decorations

There's more than one birthday in December!

then go to Christmas preparations
First we put up a small tree but then we decided that we really wanted the larger tree. So we moved the smaller one into the toy room (it was already completely decorated, after all) and put up the bigger tree in the family room. 

Each one is against the French door separating the rooms, and it appears that there's a reflection in the glass. But that's really the second tree glowing through. It's been fun seeing everyone's reaction when they realize they're looking at two trees. It's really odd because the small tree has colored lights and the bigger one has white lights. 

The kids are loving it!

I am getting a bit of sewing done. The last of the customer orders went out today, and I started a couple of little surprises for those near and dear. Of course, I can't take any chances, so you'll have to wait for the near and dear gifts. I'll show you the last customer item later in the week. 
In the meantime...