The last weekend of November was absolutely gorgeous in Lancaster County! It was in the 60s during the day and sunny. We decorated the entire house for Christmas. I LOVE the bows & greens on our windows and fence - Shawn helped put everything up and I'm tickled every time I see it. While we didn't get around to putting up Christmas lights, I'm happy with how this looks.
The weather was so lovely that the following Monday morning, the boys & I raked the front yard and put the leaves into containers to take to the dump. They did a GREAT job helping Mommy pick up the piles of leaves. :) Daddy was proud.
On Saturday, the boys helped me decorate the Christmas tree that Daddy put together. I LOVE how excited Caleb got over the tree. He was literally shaking with excitement as he told us "I LOVE it!" Then he'd say "Daddy, come look at the tree, it's SO pretty!" Typically it's Joshua who goes wild over activities, but this year I would say it was Caleb who was the most in awe at the experience.
Joshua enjoyed getting to help more this year. And with being taller, he could reach more places to hang ornaments as well. The boys tend to want to put them all together in one spot, so I would make suggestions of where to hang things. They highly enjoyed getting to decorate the tree and take turns hanging their ornaments. Some of the "homemade" things went toward the back of the tree, depending on their shape as we took them out of the box. But, I love each and every ornament. So many have been gifts and are special to me!
The boys have asked us to just sit and look at the tree each night. They sing a song they've made up and ask us to follow them: "I love the Christmas tree..." they sing. We laugh. I tried to teach them the real song "O Christmas Tree" but they insist that we sing their made-up version instead. We're okay with that! We all sit on the floor and look up at the tall tree. Shawn & I agreed that their excitement over the tree is one of our absolute favorite memories from the weekend. Caleb's sheer joy at the "pretty lights" is just sweetness! How blessed I am to experience the magic of Christmas through a child's eyes!
I've been teaching the boys about the birth of Jesus. The truly amazing part of the season is that Jesus came to earth as a baby - GOD as a human. He came to save us from the things we do wrong. Only God Himself can make us better and forgive us! What an amazing, priceless gift! We're celebrating Jesus' birthday!!!
Here's our little snow family - thanks, Mamaw for the gift!
And here are our stockings hung by the fireplace with care. We had to rearrange this year to add Ryan into the mix. Shawn's is on the far left, mine is on the far right, and the three boys are in the middle in birth order. Ryan's stocking has a train on it - another gift from Mamaw (thanks so much!). I love how they look.
Here's the finished Christmas tree. Each time I think of it, I think of Caleb begging us to look at it one last time. It makes me pause and thank God for my precious children. Then I pause a moment longer, to thank God for His precious Son as well...
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