When I was a child, I would cry Christmas night when it was all over realizing that I had a whole year to wait once again for that special day. I love the simpleness that can be Christmas. But I am not going to lie, I love the decorations, the music, the trees, the special hand picked gifts for my children, the cookies, the lights, and the mounting excitement. I am so excited to share my passion and love for Christmas with my children. I love the traditions that we have created with our own little family - a mix of our childhood traditions and some new ones all our own.
I really long for this month of December to be filled with cherished moments and happy memories. Some,I am sure, will find their way to my blog in the form of words and photos, and some I will tuck privately away into my heart. Every year I strive to do as much as I can ahead of the month of December, so that we can really enjoy the whole month and not stress, and not get caught up in the hustle and bustle. I was really good with getting all of my Christmas shopping done. I was done by the end of the summer - that is a first for me! But I have not started the wrapping. I am hoping to do it slowly each evening while watching Christmas movies with my honey. I still have some of my craft projects to complete, but I am hoping they will be more fun than stress.
For Cadi's first or second Christmas, I had a crazy idea to make a different Christmas cookie (or two - sometimes even three!) every day in December and freeze them. I ended up with over 30 different kinds of Christmas cookies. That was dozens and dozens. It was fun, but it was stressful. I have not done that crazy baking for a few years now, and I certainly don't want to go that extreme again. However, I would like to make one or two different kinds of cookies each week this December. I have yet to choose which recipes will make the cut. I have so many favorites. And yes, I know I talk up our natural eating ways, but folks - it's Christmas! {wink} I cannot wait for Cadi and I to don our Christmas aprons, turn up the Christmas music, and make a mess in the kitchen. I hope to share some of our favorite recipes here - for memory sake and in case anyone is interested in cookie recipes.
I have a lot of fun things planned for school for the month of December, too. I hope to snap some photos and share. The past few days I have been busy doing some fall cleaning and organizing. (Jim has been a HUGE help! He is truly the organizer in the family.) I really like to decorate my house only after it is deep cleaned. Then I only have touch up during the weeks leading up to Christmas and can hopefully really enjoy the Christmas season. We hope to decorate our home for Christmas tomorrow. We would normally already have our decorations up, as well as our tree, which we have traditionally gotten the day after Thanksgiving. However, last year we realized that Scotty has severe allergies, and one of the things he is allergic to is Christmas trees. After doing much research, we learned that artificial trees are even worse for him, as when stored they collect dust mites and mold. We were told the best thing for him would be to have a fresh tree in our home no longer than two weeks. He is actually allergic to the mold that grows on the tree while sitting in a home, and not to the actual tree - or so we think. So that is our goal. It will be a bit sad to have a tree for such a little amount of time, but I sure do love my boy more than a Christmas tree! So tomorrow we pull out the decorations and later on we will get a tree.
I was a bit late on the draw with getting our photos for Christmas. So we had a quick shoot on Sunday. It was chilly outside, Scotty was tired and hungry and Cadi was silly. They were not the greatest shots, but it is nice to have that done! The one we finally chose for our card is the one on my header. It is not what I typically would send out, but it depicts our family well. Here is another impromptu shot of my kiddos. Maybe I will share a few more of our photos later.
And speaking of photos - I had two shoots last week! I am still editing through the photos. I worked with some really cute kiddos!
Well, my bed is calling. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. (It's looking slim here in New York this year though! {boo})
Are you excited about Christmas? Why or why not?
Addis Ababa Time
7 comments:
Holy Cow, I missed you this week! I'm glad you had fun with your family though and I'm sure you made wonderful memories! Because I take so many pictures of my kids throughout the year, we usually take them one time, at Christmas, to get their head shots and professoional pics taken. I cant wait to go on Thursday after seeing your pictures! They are absolutely gorgeous especially the one in your header! You guys are so danged cute. Anyway, glad you're back to bloggin. I almost emailed you with my big news, but knew you'd see it soon enough;) Talk to you soonnnnnn!!!
I enjoy christmas time but am often sad when it comes around. I think that too often i have an 'idea' in my head of what christmas should look like in my house and more often than not what really ends up happening falls quite short of that 'idea.' I want Christmas to be special for my family because they rarely were for me as a child but i often just don't know how to make that happen.
Gorgeous photos, Tiffany! I LOVE Christmas too. You described me perfectly. I love the story, I love the truth, I love the lights, the baking, the tree, the excitement. My poor husband gets a little annoyed about the whole thing, but I just LOVE it. And I love that I have three precious little girls to share it all with! It sounds like you have a lovely month planned.
First of all, I hate decorating BUT I have the best mother-in-law in the world. She comes to my house while I am at work, decorates my whole house (complete with a tree in each room)! When I come home, it is Christmas at my house and I LOVE IT!!!
Christmas really is the time of year where I consider the miracle of our Savior's birth. I think about everything from Joseph believing Mary ("Honey, I am pregnant but you HAVE to believe that I am still a virgin."), the Wise Men who were able to follow a star and Mary, who held the Son of God in her arms that night. Betheleham who had no idea what was going on and that beautiful baby boy who would think of me as he died on the cross 33 years later.
***I am humbled again***
Erin
As a side note...I had your blog open at work and had to minimize it to finish a quick task. Without even realizing it, I was singing Christmas music and I had no idea where it was coming from!! It was your blog!!! Thank you so much for getting me in the Christmas spirit!!
Erin
So glad to see your back to blogging ;-) I love the picture of your beautiful babies! God has for sure given you an amazing gift for photography! :-)
Looks like we share a love for Christmas also! It's my favorite Holiday also!
I remember the Cookie Baking Extravaganza from your Xanga Blog. :) Thought about it this week as I was baking lots of cookies for a cookie swap with the moms from my playgroup. Posted the recipe on my site. Hope you have a great weekend! Love your new header!
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