Deck the halls...

Cornucopias, scarecrows and  hay I love to decorate for the fall. I put a little bit of harvest joy in almost every corner of the house including the bathrooms, but we are wrapping up with the Thanksgiving holiday quickly, it seems. Since I could not convince ANY of my family to drive out to our house to celebrate we will be driving to Portland. 

With the knowledge that when we arrive back home it will already be December, I had to switch gears. I like to be immersed in the season for as long as possible. This is a characteristic that can drive Brent a little crazy at times. I have boxes and boxes of holiday decorations. The biggest season I decorate for is Christmas, followed by Thanksgiving and Halloween, then Easter. I have small miscellaneous thing I put out for Fourth of July, St. Patrick's Day and Valentines, but no where near the stockpile for Christmas. So I pulled out all my favorite Christmas CD's, brought in all the boxes and we went to work.

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of year. From the warm feeling I remember being enveloped in when I was a child surrounded by family, to the joy that comes from giving. I always wanted our house to feel like a magical place for our kids. They have enjoyed the decorations over the years and many nutcrackers have fell victim to their play. My parents always had elaborate Christmas villages with building and fake snow. I remember playing with the little figures and ornaments. Laying under the tree looking up at all the lights.

There are a few things we do as traditions each year. We are not even sure why these things are traditions or why they are so important. Like many of the crazy things we do it was probably my fault. For instance, I have always wanted to have my tree to look elegant.
Stemming from my childhood experiences with trees. As a child my most prominent Christmas tree memory is of my grandmother. She always got one of those trees that were flocked (covered in fake snow stuff). They would be pink or white and donned with tinsel and homemade ornaments.  My sisters, cousins, and I  would sit around little fingers picking and scrapping off snow. I guess in California it was popular to have "pretend" snow.
My childhood household it was always a massive hunt at a tree farm. Walking for what seemed like days, and then waiting in the cold for my dad to chop the tree down. Once the tree was erected in our living room we would have the Christmas music on and my sisters and I would go to work. Again, putting our homemade ornaments all over. With multi-colored lights and straw bearded Santa missing eyes, ugh! Tinsel blobs, because one of my sisters would not take the time to nicely place the tinsel one strand at a time.
My younger self always envied the trees at department stores. Glowing cones of perfection. My eyes would trace the flowing ribbons around, captivated with matching ornaments and white twinkly lights. "When I grow up, I'm going to have a tree like that!"

And wouldn't ya know it, I did...but, I am starting to see the pleasure in those old home made ornaments.
The boys have made me several over the years. Instead of "ruining" my perfectly coordinated tree I bought a small fake tree for them to put all of my "special" ornaments on. Now they are out growing their little tree, and I need to integrate their masterpieces with my perceived perfection. At first the idea made me cringe. I love my boys artwork, but I love symmetry and order too! But now...
Each time I see one of their little Popsicle stick snowflakes or cotton ball snowmen I am transported back to the very moment I was handed a tissue paper ball and their tiny smiles beamed as they waited in anticipation while I opened the package. Now I try hard to preserve my treasures, and my tree is becoming more and more like that in my memories.

Another tradition I started after seeing or reading something and thinking "hey that would be cool, when I have children I am going to do that."

Each year we buy the boys an ornament.
When Mitchel was born I appointed him a star for an annual ornament.
Brayden a snowflake,
and August (his brothers decided) is a heart.

Each year the boys chose an ornament in their appointed symbol. Some years it has been hard to find ornaments they like, but generally there are always stars, snowflakes, and hearts.

One year Brayden chose a snowflake that was bigger than his head...naturally I wanted to sway him to finding something more conventional, but Brent relishes these moments when the boys show their independence. Always looking at the big picture. (It lives on the backside of the tree usually)

It is going to be a long month for August. Ever since we put the tree up each morning he wakes and asks if Santa came!?

Christmas Decor
While working at a school you tend to accumulate a lot of holiday decorations. Students would bring in presents almost each holiday. I received several Christmas plates, dishes, and novel snow-globes.
One of the teachers I worked with for two years bought me wood carved statues. I have a snowman and a Santa from her.

One of our latest house guest brought us a poinsettia, which I love.
Brent's uncle used to give a poinsettia to each family at Thanksgiving, but he has not done that for awhile now.

Another Tradition
We also go get our picture taken with Santa each year. This is another amazingly fun thing to look back on. Not only to see the changes in the boys over the years, but the changes in Santa! This trend has caught on more and more. It used to be you would go to the mall for your child to see Santa and tell him what they wanted, and they would give you a Polaroid of your visit, NOW the whole thing is centered around the picture. They charge way too much and sometimes Santa doesn't even ask the kids what they would like for Christmas.

We try hard to embody the spirit of Christmas. A central part being the celebration of Christ's birth. Focus on what this time of year should mean.
We used to over do the presents for Mitchel and Brayden. We were just so excited to see our boys excited we just got carried away. When Brayden was about three we tried to reevaluate what message we were sending and what message we wanted the boys to really take from this special time of year. We started doing "gifts of time" for each other. With no monetary value, our gift has to be something  where we are serving another.
We also have limited the amount of gifts the boys receive. We only buy them three gifts each Christmas (plus stockings). This practice has helped us not only control our spending habits, but to reinforce that Christmas is not about the presents! Which is hard to do now-a-days.

My carved snowman

my nativity scene...for now!

August has been playing with all my candles, trees, and wreaths

BLAST FROM THE PAST: these porcelain girls are from my childhood. They are cracked and glued, but I love them

Our pictures with Santa wall

Brent and I randomly decide to join in the pictures here and there.

From Mitch's first grade. His foot as the face and hands as antlers

The small tree with the homemade ornaments and "special" ornaments the kids have picked out over the years

Our stockings...I am cleaning the chimney soon, so I am waiting to hang them

A spotty tradition of ours is going to see Christmas lights. We like to drive around and look at Christmas lights (by we I mean "I"). We have done the Zoo lights, the Grotto, and Peacock lane. We need to check out the Portland raceway sometime, and street of dreams.

This year was EXTRA special, because this is the first year we are getting to decorate OUR house.We look forward to many wonderful Christmas memories in our new home!

The season is starting out right and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, around here.