Getting Ready...



We are in Christmas mode, full force in the Clark household these days!  It’s one of my absolute favorite times of the year, so once we finish our last Thanksgiving feast, I’m all for rolling out the Christmas music, decorations, and hunting for/creating the perfect gifts.  This weekend we accomplished a lot on Saturday, which was also Pat’s birthday.  All he asked to do was spend time as a family, setting up the tree and decorating for Christmas.  Awesome!

We had a great time doing so!  It was the most fun to watch Olivia get so excited about everything.  She has taken part of the decorating in the past, but a year must be long enough at her age for her to not remember much.  Each item we unpacked was so exciting to her!  She was pumped to pull out the Little People Nativity set, and soon had her Dora and Diego toys mingling with the wise men.  She also loved putting the ornaments on the tree.  Funny how all the Cinderella ones made it on the tree first, and all in one spot of course. 

Who can resist plopping a Santa hat on a little one?!  Two little ones means double the Christmas fun!

These are a few of our favorite festive pieces around our home:

For Olivia’s first Christmas I made her an ornament, so I decided to do the same for Henry.  Her ornament is a small frame with a picture of her celebrating her first Christmas.  His is a ball with white, red, and sparkly pompoms inside, his hand print on one side, and “Henry’s First Christmas” written on the other.

It was the most fun to hang an extra stocking on our railing this year!  I was pleased as punch to find one for Henry that somewhat blended with the rest.  Mine was made for me by my mom for my first Christmas.  I was hoping to continue that tradition with my family, that is, until I attempted Pat’s sock for our first Christmas together.  It was much more difficult to do than I bargained for.  So, Olivia’s and Henry’s socks are store-bought.  It’s neat that Olivia and I have snowmen, and Pat and Henry have Santa.

The manger scenes were no doubt the most meaningful pieces we set up.  Again, it’s wonderful watching Olivia in action, as she was sure to set up the figurines with everyone crowding around Baby Jesus.  She thought it was so important to have everyone close to him, looking at him.  We had a few extra manger sets that we let her pick from to set up in her room.  It was adorable to see her pull up her step stool, and arrange the pieces on her bookshelf.

May the joys of this Advent season be with you as well!  We’re off to do some Christmas shopping!  Tomorrow’s mission… Peanut Butter Blossom cookies!