Christmas time's a comin'

For those of you who've looked, you'll notice that I'm a so far behind, I may never catch up.  I have high hopes for myself, and still have plenty of pictures, and my goal is to fill in the gaps before my summer memories fade.  However, since I just keep getting further behind, I just decided I'd start with the current news, and hope to back track as time allows.

As we prepare our anxious and extremely excited little Christmas fairies for the big day ahead, we have had SO MUCH fun!  The amount of detail that they notice and embrace is amazing.  They remember EVERYTHING we tell them, and have so much eager anticipation that it can't help but rub off!

One of our favorite daily rituals is hide and seek with "Angel Mary".  For those of you familiar with the Elf on a Shelf concept, it's pretty much the same thing, but someone filled me in on the "Christmas Angel" as an alternative.  While she carries the same expectation for good behavior, she also brings the message of sharing and being kind to others...and she reports back to Santa AND Jesus each night!  ;)

The girls have LOVED it, and the highlight of each morning is spotting her in her new location for the day...and they know, no matter what, we CAN'T touch her!!

Besides the angel, the girls are obsessed with Baby Jesus, and can not get enough.  They literally squeal with delight any time they see the manger in a book, figurine or movie.  They also had a great time this morning at the church children's Christmas play.  They watched attentively for the whole hour, which, in itself, is a big feat!

Beyond that, the other big guy of the season is obviously the jolly red guy himself, and he hasn't gone without his share of attention!  As a matter of fact, we've managed not one but TWO opportunities to strike a pose and give him our wish list this weekend.  We started on Friday afternoon with a trip to the mall where the girls sat nervously but happily on his lap!  We were very proud because we weren't sure if they'd chicken out like they did last year! 

Today, we went to the club and had Brunch, followed by a visit with a second "helper". 

The girls did great, and are now comfortable that they've shared their entire list of "needs" (Macy was sad on Friday because she realized that she had forgotten one of her main wish list items!)

We have a few full weeks of Christmas festivities ahead, and we can't wait to experience it through the eyes of our precious 3 year olds!