It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Well, we went to see Santa. I love it that we've had the same Santa at the mall ever since we've been visiting Santa. Believe it or not I didn't want the kids to believe in Santa. I wanted Christmas always to be the same. I feel like so many children are let down when they realize that Santa doesn't exist. My thought was that if Christmas was always exciting without Santa it would always stay exciting. The great thing about Mark and I is that when it comes to situations like this whoever feels more strongly about their point of view "wins". And at the time of this discussion I was outnumbered by him and all of our friends.

So here we are visiting our Sweet Santa. Before we got there Matthew said "How come Santa asks my name, I thought he knew who everybody was?" Smart kid, how in the world did he remember that from last year. Now where was Mark to lie to my sweet son. I hate lying to him even about Santa but I did of course, to carry on with tradition. I don't even remember what I said but he believed me. Then I reminded the kids to give Santa at least 2 choices of what they might want for Christmas and this is what they said:

Abigail " I want a CareBear and aBarbie Island Princess doll."

Matthew " I want a Transformer keychain and a minicon."

Yes, I have a CareBear and a Transformer keychain already stashed away hiding in a brown paper bag in the back of my closet. But seriously of all the things how come Santa got off so cheap?

At our house the kids get one present from Santa on Christmas morning unwrapped with a BIG Red Bow and he fills their stockings with all kinds of cute nick nacks. This year it will be lipgloss, minicons and lots of arts and craft supplies. The only thing we let them open on Christmas Eve is what they gave each other. That way what they give each other is made to be significant and will be remembered.

Our holiday traditions are still in the making but here are a few that I love:

1. We all release a White balloon to Heaven and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. (usually on Christmas Eve so we can still get helium filled balloons) This tradition was started a couple of years back when Matthew said we should send Jesus balloons for his Birthday.

2. We always leave out cookies, milk and deer corn for the reindeer.

3. Every year the kids get new Christmas pajamas and they wear them all season.

4. We ready Christmas books every night by the Christmas tree telling the true story of Christmas along with Frosty and Santa too.

5. We pick an ornament off of the tree at church and buy a gift for some sweet little boy who would be Lindsey's age.

Even with all the hustle and bustle I just want to say that I love this beautiful time of year. We all have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for a warm house to sleep in, plenty of food to eat, that the kids are tucked safely into bed each night, that I have such a loving, devoted, honest, hardworking husband, and that I'm living the life I've always imagined in my dreams. Thank you God for all the hard times, sad times, and challenging times I've ever faced to be able to appreciate and cherish what I have today.