What a whirlwind this Christmas season has been! I can't believe that we are a week out...I always seem to think that the time flies by, but this year in particular really seems like that. I'm one of those "crazies" that starts to enjoy Christmas early--music comes on the beginning of November at least! It's the best time of the year, it's never long enough, and I want to enjoy it for as long as I can. Fortunately I can still have a good Thanksgiving holiday while preparing and enjoying for Christmas. :)
This was a year of old traditions made new, and new traditions formed. It's always fun to discover things about a new community, and we've added several favorite things to our list. We still have a bunch we weren't able to get to, but they will be first up next year.
Upstate New York is absolutely beautiful. We live out in the country, about 15 minutes from "town", and a busy road with all of the stores that we need. When our house is built, we'll be about 25 minutes out. I adore it. It's perfect for us. I love the trees, the quiet country roads, all the farms and barns--but still being fairly close to everything we need. At Christmastime it's especially beautiful. I'm finding that I don't mind the snow one little bit. I don't know if that will change in March or not, but I just love having the different seasons, and all the fun things that go along with it. Our weather has been up and down this winter--warm, then cold, then warm again. We get a bunch of snow, then it melts. So...I'm still praying for a white Christmas. I think it should be an automatic perk if you live somewhere cold!
The kids are always thrilled when we wake up to snow!
Once again, I utilized my Christmas card assembly line to get all the cards ready to mail out. After living so many places, we've accumulated more and more people on our card list, and I love that. I love sending, receiving, and displaying cards...one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season!
The kids LOVE writing letters to Santa, mailing them to him, and getting a reply! They always get the cutest letters, and it's just such a fun part of Christmas. We usually do it for FHE one week, or on a Sunday afternoon. It's a favorite, for sure!
Just a few miles from us us a fantastic musical Christmas lights display. We went there last week, and literally stayed for over an hour, and the kids were begging to stay longer. We will go at least twice more before Christmas arrives, it's that good! During that hour we were there, we didn't hear a repeated song even one time--it was so amazing and well done.
One of the things we miss most about Christmas in Midland is the Santa house. It was a tradition for many years, and it was hard when we moved to Texas and were stuck with the Santa at the mall. But...guess what! There is one here too! It's called the Christmas cottage, and it's a Santa House! They even have a Santa School, and it dates back more than fifty years. They have memorabilia displayed inside, and it was so fun to look at Santas clear back to the 1950's. It's a tiny cottage, with just one or two families in at a time, but it's darling. I'm so, so happy! We took the kids last night, but Caroline would have no part of it. She did take a candy cane from Santa, but her love of sugar overcame her fear of the man with the white beard. :) Kate didn't want to tell Santa anything on her list, because she knows he isn't the "real" Santa. Santa Claus is much too busy getting ready for Christmas to be anywhere else other than the North Pole, so she knows they are "helper Santas". She wrote her letter to him already, and that's good enough for her! Love that girl.
The boys had their last day of preschool yesterday, and they were lucky enough to have Santa stop by! Two times in one day! They absolutely love their preschool, and so do I. They have 5 teachers, and only 19 students, so the ratio is awesome. One of their teachers, "Mr. Matt", is a talented musician, and he's always playing something for the kids when we come to pick them up. Yesterday he was playing Christmas songs on his saxophone, and it was beautiful. Lucky kiddos!!
Don't you love the height difference? Henry isn't standing on anything. :)
This week I hosted a book exchange party, which I loved for many years, and was excited to continue the tradition here. There was a great turnout, we laughed and laughed and laughed, and I got to know some new friends. It was a great evening!
Only 6 more days to go! All the shopping is done, but I haven't wrapped a thing. Traditionally. Rick and I do all the wrapping together on Christmas Eve, but I think we have too many kids to do that. We might need to start a little early this year.
I'm looking forward to Sunday--I love the Sunday before Christmas, with all the music and performances. I'm lucky enough to be doing several numbers, and I can't wait!
Merry Christmas!!
