Oh Christmas Tree

It is finally December [We wait until 1 December], and Ian is so excited.  He has been waiting for the Christmas months for ages, thanks to all our Amazon boxes trickling in slowly starting October [yes, we have to do most of our shopping online here - and sometimes receiving a package can take weeks].  He has been asking for Christmas since before Thanksgiving.

The day finally arrived, where we go get him in his room in the morning and make a big deal out of, it is finally Christmas time - his face and excitement, is priceless.

We finally got everything together, cleared up all of our fall decorations, and crafty master pieces to make room for our favorite holiday.  We get all excited and giddy because soon the house will be transformed into our own little winter wonderland.

It is our family traditions that we remain in jammies, I make a big pot of white hot chocolate [made with real chocolate], we eat doughnuts, and play Christmas movies in the background while we set everything up.

It went better then we expected it to go.  I was waiting for full fledged chaos, but it was actually peaceful and pleasant. There were no tears or tantrums.  No one fought over ornaments and everyone smiled.  Yay, for organized fun!

Ian and painted the windows,  while Hayleigh and daddy set up the tree with all the lights.  I love doing it all as a family - it is so much to laugh together, to be goofy together, and to just be together.

This year is so much fun, the kids are older, and way more into it.   I finally don't feel like, why do I bother.  Ian gets so excited over the little things, and he loved doing it all, from painting windows, to hanging stockings, to setting up the nativity scene, to put up the tree.  Hayleigh is so enchanted by all the Christmas magic, she has no idea what to do with herself.  She just want to touch everything, and is in love with it all.

We ditched most of our glass balls this year, and have a tree with lights and the bottom part is decorated in all sorts of fun kid friendly ornaments.  We need to expand on our stash.  We only have one tree, and it is a kid tree.

We do dated ornaments for the kids.  Nate did it growing up, and like it, so we decided to do it for our kids.  This year Ian got another Thomas {this boy and his trains} and Hayleigh to Santa's sleigh bell.

We love Christmas time.  I love having winter Christmas and all the fun cozy things that comes with.  I grew up in South Africa, Christmas is in the middle of summer, and it usually scorching hot.  I will write a post about that later.  I love the wintry feel of Christmas, being cozy in the house, reading Christmas books, watching Christmas movies, baking cookies, and just playing with the kids.  Oh, I forgot and to stay in jammies till noon.

The house is all transformed, the timer is set for the Christmas lights to go on and off during the day, advent calendar is ready [we do 25 Christmas books], all our fun activities are planned, we are going to some fun German Christmas markets, and all our shopping is done.  For me that is a fun, stress free Christmas  time.

Happy Christmas decorating time for our family to yours.