Deck The Halls

Homemade hot cocoa

Elf

A little boy who is very excited about all things Santa, reindeer, snowman and Jingle Bells
(and who is also wearing a super festive... Halloween shirt.)

And the cutest little tree we ever did see.

We had a great stay home family day.  We took the day slowly, decorated for Christmas and had some much needed downtime.  Ayden was running a little bit of a fever (it never got above 100.4 and he was acting pretty normal) so we decided we shouldn't go to the dinosaur exhibit.  Come to find out, our play group meeting has been postponed to Friday this week.  The little girl of the host house this week had the same little stomach bug over the weekend and her mom didn't want to risk exposing the rest of the kid to the lingering germs.  She was the only other member of the play group who came to story time on Thursday so there must have been a bug that got passed around there.  I was glad it was moved to Friday because we were going to skip tomorrow.  The teacher in me can't help but keep my child home until he's been fever free (WITHOUT MEDICATION... some parents often "forgot" that part) for at least 24 hours.  That is when you know you are in the clear and won't risk passing things along.

We actually have a larger tree but it is a "ball and burlap" tree (aka a live tree) so we can't bring it inside until the week of Christmas and then have to move it out ASAP afterward.  Live trees are accustomed to cold, moist environments and don't like the inside too much.  My family has had the tradition of getting live trees every year then planting them and we are starting that tradition for ourselves this year!  We plan to plant it on our property and will continue to do so every year. We are hoping to eventually have a pretty nice privacy wall of Christmas trees along the roadside where our little cottage will be.  Anyway, I digress.  I really had a hard time accepting the fact that I'd only have a Christmas tree inside for a week or two.  I'm one of those gals who likes the twinkle and cheer to be around for at least a month.  We gave our artificial tree to the Good Will when we moved because we knew we'd start getting real trees.  This little guy was what I came up with to provide the cheer of a Christmas tree and it is doing the trick!  I picked up a table top Christmas tree at Whole Foods for $20 and we decorated it with some extra lights and ornaments we have.  When we bring the big guy in we'll move it to the top of a cabinet in our TV room.  Right now, our real tree is right outside our living room window all tucked in (we had to wrap the root ball in blankets last night).  We considered putting outdoor lights on it while it's out there but this cottage doesn't have any external electrical outlets.  We're already running extension cords out to heat the chicken coop so decking the exterior of our home will have to wait until next year.

Which traditions from your childhood have you carried on with your own family?

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Holiday Traditions"

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