Kicking off our Christmas Season

We've been a little slower than usual this year getting our house into the Christmas spirit. I think having some sick kiddos and being in a new home where there's no "usual" place to put all the Christmas decorations has caused the slow-down.

One of our Christmas traditions arrived right on time.

If you can't tell, that's Mickio, our friendly elf from the North Pole. He came back to our house this year the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Carter has really enjoyed finding him every morning and telling him all about his day.

We picked out our Christmas tree on Friday night, and Nick had ordered this tip-proof, no-fail, better-than-all-the-rest Christmas tree stand to use since we needed a bigger tree this year than we've had in the past.

Well, within 24 hours of putting our tree in the stand (which, in concept, is really a great stand, but, in reality, is plastic and not weighted enough to deal with our tree), it toppled over. Luckily, we were letting it fall out a little, so no lights or ornaments were on it, and no children or pets were harmed in the toppling.

So, we are now back to the $20 special that Nick bought one Christmas before we were married that has successfully kept all of our Christmas trees standing tall.

And, as I type, Nick is hard at work stringing the tree with lights so that when the children wake up from their naps, we can decorate it. He threatens every year to get an artificial tree with lights already on it, but we always end up with a real tree. I guess we are suckers for that frasier fir scent! :)

It appears that although Santa's best elves were working hard to our north, they must have dropped off just enough Christmas magic to get some magnolia wreaths crafted and on to our front doors, as well.

For the last several years, we've enjoyed the Highland Santa brunch with our precious friends the Murphys. Unfortunately, not being in Indy anymore caused a change to that tradition. So, Sunday morning, we headed over to the VCC to have a family brunch and visit with Santa. Carter took a great picture with Santa, but I had to hold Callen to prevent the inevitable screaming that occurs at her age. So, this is the better picture from the morning:

They were both exceptionally well behaved, and I have no doubt that Santa noticed. Of course, if he missed it {with all of the other children who were there}, we have Mickio to fill him in!