Tis the Season!!

Well we are officially ready for the holidays! Except for finishing shopping, we have been to see Santa already and the house and tree are decorated. The kids are sporting all of their Christmas clothes now and we have already seen a few of our favorite Christmas movies...I feel so accomplished! We have done all of this and it is only the 10th of December. Actually I guess that isn't that good, but I'm still happy with what has been done!
So as I already mentioned, we went to the mall last Monday night to see Santa. Marisa and Alex looked great and even allowed me to get a great picture of them. We only had to wait for about 10 minutes to see Santa, and then we were happy with the second picture they took. The first one was great of the kids also, but Santa had his eyes shut...way to go Santa! So toy requests have been reported to Santa so now we will just have to wait and see what he brings on Christmas day! This past Monday night we decorated our tree!!! It looks great by the fireplace and stockings!! I can actually say that decorating the tree is an enjoyable holiday chore to me. I think it is fun to get the ornaments out of the crates. It is funny how a year can go by, but when you find one of your favorite ornaments it seems like it has been forever since you have seen it!! I have a few ornaments like that...it doesn't matter that I see them every year at Christmas, I still am happy when I see them all over again! Marisa was a big help this year, Alex too. He just did not understand why some of the ornaments that looked just like his toy cars could be ornaments and had to be placed on the tree ( and the very top of the tree so he couldn't grab them). Once he got over that, he really enjoyed the tree.

And finally below, is "Bob" our Elf. For those of you who are not familiar with the Elf on the Shelf, I will enlighten you! The Elf on the Shelf is this cute book that comes with your very own elf like the one shown below. The story tells you that this is one of Santa's elves that has been chosen for your family. During the day he hangs out somewhere in your house, nothing really fun about that. His job is to watch little boys and girls during their days and takes note of who is naughty and who is nice. Once children are asleep he magically flies back to the North Pole to give report to Santa. By morning he is back at your house, but he is in a different location to watch for the day. Marisa and Alex love getting up every morning and finding where the elf is for the day. We started this tradition last year and Marisa loved it, so we have to continue this year. And this year, Alex understands a bit better. This morning, Bob was in the kitchen in one of our holiday baskets looking out towards the living room.

So today I am going to try and battle the mall and Target! I am off of work today because I am working this weekend and would love it if I could get the majority of my shopping done. Wish me luck!