Christmas is almost here....Are you ready?

I would like to say I am ready. That my presents are all wrapped and sitting neatly under my gorgeous giant flocked tree. I would like to say that I am completely done shopping and am able to just sit around with the kids decorating cookies and gingerbread houses, sipping on hot cocoa.... I would love to say we are done with school until January and that all is perfectly in order in my house....

As you can guess from what I would like to say to what my actual reality is.....

Just last night we picked up stuff for stockings, a few gifts for the family, and birthday stuff for David who turns 4 in 5 days.

We are hoping to have a spare moment to get it all wrapped and ready for our Christmas celebrations which beging on the 23rd of Dec.

We used to drive up to Rob's parents on Christmas Eve after all of our church's services. Then we would wake and have Christmas with them, then drive home and have Christmas with my parents after that... Our kids never really got to open or play with anything because we were opening up presents, then packing them up in the car to move on to the next place. So rather then make everyone else change their plans for us.... we s

tarted our own tradition of Christmas Eve Morning.... we wake up, the stockings are filled and the kids get to open them. We make a big breakfast then open our presents together. We get several hours of playing in before we get all fancied up for our Christmas Eve services. Then we have Christmas as usual with all of the family. Last year I added the tradition of new pajamas the night before our "Chrsitmas Eve Morning" and so now we open new pajamas and take a picture together.... Its fun, I love it, and it takes the stress off.

Our tree.... well When Robert was about 4 we discovered he was very allergic to Christmas trees.... He had horrible golf ball sized hives all over his body. They left horrible bruises and it took over a month for them to fully go away. It was then we started the fake tree... Which is beautiful and I love. Well then we had the year of David... I was on 9 weeks of bedrest and then he came 4 weeks early on Dec. 20. So we downsized

our tree that year and it has stayed that way for the last 4 years.... It is white, about 3 feet tall and has none of our personal ornaments from Rob growning up, or the kids past Christmas. Maybe next year we will have the big tree again.....The presents under it are gifts Abigail picked out and bought with her own money for her family...