Warm Fuzzy Feelings...

You would think as I get older and older that Christmas would cease to be so exciting, wondrous, and my favorite holiday of the whole year. But, nope. Not yet. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! Really. I know lots of people say that, but I am not sure if they love it as much as I do! haha!

It is such a busy time of year for us, but honestly I rarely seem to feel as stressed as I normally would with all that's going on. Maybe because I always shop early and wrap early. But, that is because people get nuts closer to the day of Christmas! I have had to run a few last minute errands this year (I usually start shopping in July, but Scottish Rite didn't sell gifts LOL.) And, I tell you people act plain crazy. Where are the manners? "After you, sir. You go ahead, ma'am. Thank you." Where did all that go?? I mean really.

We are less than two weeks away from Christmas, and we still have lots of festivities ahead! But, I thought I would go ahead and show you what we've been up to so far. I have tried not to "overbook" us, so there are a few traditions we did last year that we aren't doing this year (The Pink Pig, seeing Santa at the mall...) But, of course, being the crazy woman I am ended up adding a few new traditions like the Clayton County International Park Festival of Lights, The Kids Spot art classes and Santa visit, and the Heritage Park Christmas. Oh, well. I tried to scale back. What can I say? I even found out we missed seeing Santa at the library! See! I told you there were free places to go see Santa! There's no excuses people! :)

The boys worked really hard on their letters to Santa. Preston lost interest quickly (as usual..my little busy pupil he is) and acted like it was a pretty easy question "What would you like Santa to bring you?" His answer: "I want....cars...coins...and ALL the toys. That's what I want." HUH? Coins?? Guess you can tell we had just finished our money unit during homeschool. And, he did his letter first, so Jackson gets panicked! "What!? He's getting ALL the toys so there won't be any left for me??" See what I have to deal with? :)
A friend pointed out that our letters had no manners either! LOL Just like the angry mobs of shoppers out there! How embarassing! Well, we were running out of room, and well wait till you see Jackson's. It only took us an hour to do our Santa letters. Hopefully he understands. :)

We did make it to The Kids Spot to see Santa himself! This is a horrible picture of them that I snapped quickly. Our pictures that came with our visit should be in soon...those will have a cute background, and the kids visited in his lap separately. Preston also had on a sweater vest. All I heard all morning was, "I don't wuv dis. (vest) Can I take it off when I get my picture made?" He hates sweater vests. :(

But, as you can see neither child was afraid. Preston was a bit hesitant, but it always helps when big brother goes first you know. Then, Preston plopped right up there and chatted away. The whole time he rubbed the fur on Santa's outfit. Too cute. And, he did ask for coins! Quarters, in fact!

The kids enjoyed a snack and a craft after visiting with Santa.

We have been rehearsing for our homeschool Christmas program we put on for the grandparents. They used these adorable handpainted snowmen masks during it. (More pics to come later of that.) They loved these wooden masks though! Who knew $1 clearance toys could make kids so happy?

This was Preston getting ready to go see Santa..guess you can say he was excited?

Jackson was, too!

I love this picture of them! It absolutely amazes me how much they love each other, yet hate each other all at the same time. :)

I love counting down the days to Christmas..I think last year I even did a 12 days of Christmas countdown on my blog. This year though an early Christmas present from my sweet mother-n-law is helping us count down, too! I have wanted one of these for a long time, and she did a great job picking one out that matches my house so well! The boys love it! Why you ask? Because each day behind the door is a single Ande's mint for them to share! :) We also are doing this wonderful nativity scene advent calendar art project during homeschool that is reminding them of the true meaning of Christmas. I am enjoying that more than the house I think. I love talking to them about the manger, stable, the inn, Bethlehem, and the wise men and why we give gifts. I don't think Preston is listening much :), but Jackson is really soaking it in this year. In fact, most recently he asked, "Why would he die on the cross for us??" As tough as those questions are to answer, I am so glad he is interested enough to ask them.

(I still don't know why blogger puts my pics down out of order..boo.) But, here is Jackson's fifty minute letter! :) haha! I thought noone could interpret it, but a friend on Facebook read it all correctly except for number four! Can you read it? As you can see, an alarm clock has made the list. Man. They have been asking for one of those since Easter. They saw one where we get our pictures developed and ever since then they have wanted one. We haven't been to pick up pictures in a while, but recently we did, and so there you have it. Santa will not be getting one though, but my wonderful, dear sibling is paying me back from a hermit crab I bought her son years ago that is immortal and will never die...and so she is getting them alarm clocks. You know the old timey ones with bells on top. Darn. I would say those things will be set for 11AM, but I just taught Jackson how to tell time on a real clock. Crap. That is going to bite me in the rear. :)

By the way, number four is "games." It was supposed to be "cartridge games" for his Leapster. But, he was too tired! Really! He was like, "That's too long. Let's shorten it." Hilarious. I will say he needed to write with a crayon. His letters are much better when the instrument isn't so fat. :)

Here is Preston "thinking" about what to write in his letter...

And, of course it is that time of year...for Polar "Bear" Express movie as my kids call it, and of course hot chocolate! This is Jackson's first year really giving hot chocolate a try, and he loves it! Gee. That just had to coincide with the year he became diabetic! LOL No, seriously. Thankfully, the insulin so far seems to cover it just fine. So, now he's addicted.

Here is our family tree, which I decorated alone...I originally had thought the boys might could finally help this year...but...I tell you after letting them do their trees in their rooms all by themselves, I thought I might never recover! haha! Did you know they now make shatterproof balls? We need some of those suckers!

I love that the boys have their own trees, and this year Preston finally graduated to a bigger tree the same size as Jackson's. They really like it, too. Especially sleeping with them on at night. And, I bet Paw Paw Mitchell liked them, too. Why you ask? Because they have colored lights instead of clear!? :)

I really let Jackson do it all alone. It was very tough not to step in. I only had to say once not to place all the balls on the same branch, and that was the only input I had.

His favorite part is the star!

It actually turned out great without my help! Preston, on the other hand, is a tad younger and needed some help, but overall he hung all his ornaments himself, too. I helped with his garland beads and his lights, but that was pretty much it.

He, too, though felt compelled to put all the balls on the same branch! What is up with that and kids? haha! I quickly showed him to spread them out though, and he had it figured out in no time!

He loved it so much, I couldn't even get a picture of him looking at me and the camera instead of staring at the tree!

Someone said he looked like that scene from "Home Alone" in this picture... :)

And, guess what?? Santa sent back Chris this year! She came in with a bang trying to eat up all our nilla wafers! She has since been caught trying to roller skate, and totally trashed the bathroom playing with the toilet paper. :) Remember that elf girl next to Santa in the pic at The Kids Spot? She told the boys our elf's name is Rachel, not Chris. So, now I am not really sure what to call her. haha! I will say I have jumped out of bed at 3am and 7am to run and go hide that thing because I realize I had forgotten the night before! What I don't get myself into! :)

So, maybe this is just a bunch of rubbish to you...all these babbling facts about my family and how we spend Christmas together. But, to me it is a wonderful walk down memory lane over the past few weeks. I actually skipped my discussion of the beach to come back to later because I love Christmas so much I wanted to discuss this first. Even big JPM has been feeling the spirit stronger this season than before. He is equally looking forward to all the parties, gingerbread house decorating, cookie baking, and gift giving coming up! That makes my heart smile.

Stay tuned! We had a great time last night at Stone Mountain Christmas! Pictures to come when my fingers rest! :)