Christmas Decorating

The Big Tree!
I was so excited because for the first time in 3 years we were finally able to get all of our Christmas decorations out of storage and put up our big tree. We spent two days decorating. It's not like I have that much stuff, but with the new house and the kids it just took extra long to figure out where to put everything. And now I finally get to have my 2 trees. The small tree is in the piano room and is decorated "fancy" while the big tree is in the family room and gets the lower half of the decorations ripped off several times a day. I don't really mind the kids taking the decorations off because I have fond memories of being a kid and loving to take the decorations off the tree and then put them back on again. That was before we got older and mom got the "blue" tree!

The kids favorite part of decorating is putting together the gingerbread house Chuck's sister Paula gave us several years ago. Each year the kids think the candy is real and they have to bite several pieces just to make sure. They love to look at this house and pull the candy off the little tree and then put it back on again. I have it up on the countertop and they pull chairs over at least once a day to play with it.

Bella loves to help especially if it involves climbing the ladder. I love nativity sets and have been collecting them for a few years now. I think I have 16 displayed throughout the house this year. I especially love the ones we picked up from the days when we used to travel and Chuck's mom brought me back a beautiful nativity from their mission in Ghana.

Big buddy getting in on the action. I usually find him sucking on a Christmas ornament at least once a day. He rolls over by the tree and likes to feel the branches, but can't actually take anything off. But not to worry, the other kids get the decorations for him to eat.