Hello December...Meet Bruce!

As the kids were decorating the tree this past weekend we finally decided on a name for our tree. Last year we named our tree Lolly. Don't ask me why. Chelsea came up with it, but because this tree seems so masculine, and sturdy with stiff branches standing in perfect form, and since it's a blue spruce we decided to name him Bruce! I know...the names we come up with right??

This past Sunday the kids had a blast decorating him to the songs of Here comes Santa Claus, and Let it Snow all while Jon was preparing Sunday dinner. Listening to Christmas music puts a smile on my face, and seeing the kids dancing as they're decorating made it for a super fun evening. No ornaments were broken, and Noah is at an age where he is getting the whole concept of Christmas, but like I wrote on this post I want him to focus on the baby Jesus before presents. I feel that if I explain to him all about the Savior by saying "baby Jesus" he'll have more compassion because he thinks little babies are cute. 

We are so ready for Sierra to come, and in all honesty I'm trying not to stress over the holidays especially when it comes to gift giving. It's the simple things that count. I may not give extravagant gifts, but I do have my heart, time, and love to give to those who want it. 

Reading this poem gives the true meaning of Christmas, and as a parent who grew up with very little makes so much sense to me, and as each year that passes by all I want to do is keep the focus all year round as to living a simple life, filling my home with nothing but joy and love. 

And lots of dancing. 

Let me not wrap, stack, box, baby, tie, tag, bundle, seal, keep Christmas. 

Christmas kept is liable to mold. 

Let me give Christmas away, unwrapped, by exuberant armfuls. 

Let me share, dance, live Christmas unpretentiously, merrily, responsible iwht overflowing hands, tireless steps, and sparkling eyes. 

Christmas given away wills tay fresh...even until comes again.

 Let me not keep Christmas. 

~Linda Felver

**And for some Christmas spiritual enlightenment watch this video.

The Day We Picked & Decorated Lolly.

I can't believe that a year ago around this time we went out to go tree picking, and it seems as if it was yesterday. And is it only nine days until Christmas?? What the heck! I'm in denial with the fact that this month is going by way tooooooo fast for me! We went out to pick our tree a couple of weeks ago right before the rain came down & we were picky in picking. This is the second real tree we've had in our 20 years of marriage, and so far we've picked some that have a girly look to them so this year we decided to name "her" Lolly. 

As usual I snap pics of the family in random mode without them knowing & caught these two in a laughable conversation. I have no idea what these two were in cahoots or lauging about, but I assume it was the trees I was scoping out. 

Here is Noah pouting because he didn't  get his way. I think he had an eye on a different tree, but because we told him it would be too tall for our ceiling, and said no he began to pout.

Mandatory pics of the kids are a must & just as Jon got Noah to smile we all looked down! Then he managed to capture one with all of us smiling! 

Once we got her home we let Lolly sit outside with a tarp covering her so she wouldn't get soaked from the rain. As soon as she dried up we put her inside on Sunday right after church. We were a little slow in covering her up with decorations, and the fact that we had to wait until the branches unfolded took longer for us to decorate her & string those lights on. In all honesty I was in no rush & after she unfolded we strung her up with white lights & that's all she had on for a couple of days. 

It was so nice not having to rush about with decorating Lolly, and the day Jon & I went to the city for our anniversary the kids dolled her up. Lexie being the nice big sister that she is captured a few shots from her iPhone of them decorating her. 

She said they all had fun decorating her, and taking picures! 

I love this time of year & am so sad that it's flying by, but am making the best of each day until the new year begins. 

And having Sierra home for awhile will complete it!! 

Rockin' around the CHRISTmas tree

Black Friday...not interested. My priorities have changed, and I am not at all interested in being surrounded by a bunch of crazy shoppers!! I do my CHRISTmas shopping (or making) early in the year so I can avoid all that chaos. Instead...we decided to put the tree up. 

We've never had a real tree put up in this house, and I was having second thoughts into buying a real tree. I think we will wait until we move out of this house before buying a real tree, because our living room isn't big enough. So we decided to put up our pencil tree, and the girls had too much fun decorating it. 

After the tree was all decorated, the girls were in a party mood. Sierra got on the piano and started playing CHRISTmas music on the piano. I LOVE that I have such talented girls that play the piano. While Sierra is playing her heart out on the piano, Lexie and Noah had the time of their life by dancing to the music. 

And so did Chelsea...

My crazy kiddos! They truly look forward to this time of the year where their main focus is being joyful, and happy. Playing CHRISTmas songs of the Savior really puts you in the mood for the season, and helps us focus on what CHRISTmas is really all about.  

**To watch a beautiful CHRISTmas message... please click HERE.

 P.S. Grab some tissues. Trust me...you're going to need them.