It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

One of our favorite things to do over the Thanksgiving break is to put up our Christmas decorations. Now I am not one of "those people" who put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving... that's just wrong. You cannot celebrate two holidays at the same time. However, the moment the leftover turkey is in the fridge, I make Justin climb up into the attic and drag down all of the Christmas decor. We really look forward to it, and have made it a Thanksgiving evening tradition pretty much since we've been married. The girls are beginning to accumulate quite a collection of ornaments between those made at school, the ones stitched by Granny, and the ones from Aunt Nancy. Therefore, last year as we were taking the ornaments off the tree, I bought each one of them a plastic tub and used my handy dandy label maker to label each one with their names. Then this year when we brought down ornaments, they each had their own box with their own personal ornaments in them. They got such a kick out of opening their boxes and hanging their special treasures on the Christmas tree!

Also, last year was the dreaded year when Abby finally asked if we could have Chrismas lights on our house. So, we took the girls to Wal-Mart and let them pick out which kind they wanted. Mistake #1. Of course they picked out the rainbow colored icicle lights that Justin and I always used to think were so ugly and tacky on everyone else's house. I mean, have you ever seen rainbow colored icicles? Well, being the good parents we are, we let them have the rainbow colored icicle lights. The year before we had purchased a giant inflatable Mickey Mouse for the front yard. Every year around Thanksgiving, the girls ask when we are going to "blow up Mickey Mouse". Not soon enough.


Brave daddy on the roof hanging lights!

Mickey Mouse blowed up! This picture was taken by Lilly. He must look enormous to her!

Sorting through the ornament boxes..

Hallie showing us her favorite ornament. It changes every hour.

Stockings for Jesus, Daddy, Mommy, Roger (our dog), Abby, Hallie, and Lilly

We put money in Jesus' stocking throughout the month, and then at the end of December, it is given to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering at church. The girls hit up anybody who comes to our house over Christmas for money! Last year at Justin's team party, Abby did cartwheels and the girls paid her money to put in Jesus' stocking. :)

Finally, our Christmas photo session.