Girls on the Go!: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Look! Our tree is up! At the very beginning of December! I know many of you have traditions of decorating for Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over, but we do not. We have a tradition of putting up our tree sometime before Christmas. Maybe even the week of Christmas. Or maybe even leaving it in the box until next Christmas. But we had time a couple weeks ago and brought out- the girls were thrilled!

My busy little elves.

Elliott and Daddy work together.

Don't panic, Abbey!

Very upset that the ornaments were all gone.

Their handiwork- as many heavy and breakable ornaments at the bottom of the tree as possible. Yes, I rearranged them.

I have to admit, having the tree up does help me get into the holiday spirit a little better. For the first time this year, we have an advent calendar of sorts. I did not grow up doing advent calendars or candles, so this is not only new to the girls but to me as well. I have chosen not to put candy in the calendar this year because it would just be something for my kids (especially Elliott) to throw a fit about during the day. Instead we are using it as our "countdown to Christmas calendar." I made a list of things we want to do, or would normally do, before Christmas and each day we open the numbered box and read the little piece of paper. Some nights it is just to read a certain Christmas book, or watch a Christmas movie all together. We have also had "Go see Shamu Claus and real penguins!" on a day we were going to Sea World, "Go listen to Christmas music" on the day of Chad's Air Force band holiday concert, and "Make Christmas cookies." (Never mind that the cookies were a total disaster...) The wreath is cute, it's fun to see the girls get excited about little things, and hopefully it will help us all remember that Christmas is not just about the big things like presents and family gatherings, but about the little things that we do together.