It's Looking A Lot Like Christmas! (Minus The Snow)

Yes, minus the snow - I will never stop associating Christmas with snow.  I miss that......however, at least we're having some chilly mornings here!  We even have our heat on - just a tad! We put up our Christmas tree about a week ago, and it's as gorgeous as ever. 

Okay.  Well maybe it's not gorgeous. The fact is, this tree is about, um, thirty plus years old. It's the same tree we've put up every year since Courtney was born, and Mom said she put it up when she was little, too.  So might that make it fourty years old?  I don't know.  Anyhow, it holds sentimental value, and is still holding itself together.....however I've been hinting that maybe, just maybe we should get a new one for next year.  You know, start a new family tradition.  :-)

Both Isaac and Joshua love playing with the little nativity scene we put up every year.  Dad built the wooden shed for it when Courtney and I were really little, so it's seen many Christmases!  I have such great memories of getting it out each year!  Usually we just set it up and all the characters stay in the same position the entire month of December.  However.  This year, two pairs of hands have been VERY busy re-arranging the entire set, several times daily!  We encountered a crisis a few days ago when one of the wise men was missing....however I found it later under a couch cushion.  Oh, tragedy!

 David was our Christmas light fixer this year!  We always have to figure out which strands are no longer working, which ones need new bulbs, etc.  I clearly remember being five or so, and Dad doing this job.  His yearly warning about "don't step on the Christmas lights" is one I've never forgotten - now I'm the one telling the little boys that! 

It's always a chaotic time, with so many people trying to figure out which branches go where.  They're color coded, so we always put them in piles, and then do one row at a time. 

I'm not in any of these pictures because I wasn't feeling good!  I sat on the couch and took pictures of everyone else the whole time!

My beautiful mom.  Thankfully she's completely recovered from her kidney stone.  She feels so much better now!

The finished product - with presents underneath to boot!  And notice the train - our grandparents gave us that probably ten years ago, and it still works.  Isaac and Josh LOVE it and are always asking us to do it with them.  They want to know who all the little figures are on the train.  We've already explained "Santa Cwaz" to them; they basically know that he's a pretend man who says "Merry Christmas"!!!

 It's our family tradition to have the youngest child put the star on the tree.  Last year Isaac got to do it, but he's not the youngest anymore!  Joshua did a great job, though I really don't think he had a clue what we were doing. :-)  He had fun and says Merry Christmas all the time, but doesn't even know what that is yet!  He'll soon find out!

 Isaac says hi! 

By way of interest.......I don't get many comments on my blog so I'm wondering how many people actually read it?   I mainly keep it up for grandparents / friends - and I can't exactly blaim you because I hardly ever leave comments on blogs......but if you enjoy this blog, could you leave a comment so I have an idea of how large my audience is? Just curious!!!  :-)