Oh, tidings of comfort and joy!

My friends it is that time of year again and we started it off right! I can find no better sentiment than this song, we have found comfort in being together today and we experienced joy as well. First off we enjoyed a visit from Granny Gray and it was fun to see her and be so relaxed together. After she left the party began! I hold it as tradition in our house to decorate the trees while listening to our favorite Christmas songs and dancing along. It is very fun! Just look at these boys get with it. Haley and I were there too but I am not nearly as cute. Caleb was pulling some awesome ballet and spinning moves and great foot work. Peter was doing head stands and spinning. And Willy was jumping and spinning, it was a moment full of joy. Our trees look fabulous and the lights are so fun gaze at.

Our other tradition for the first of December is to do a gingerbread house. Mid-way through the construction of the house I was not sure if next year I should just buy the candy for the boys and forgo the house itself. Half of the time they were just interested in what candy they wanted to eat. But we triumphed and the house turned out cool. Peter requested that we do a door for the house and he also added the "steam" to the chimney. He decorated the door of the house and when he showed it to us he said it had a face and that it was Frankenstein. Perfect!

Willy requested the tree for the house and Caleb placed the ornaments. We realized the tree looked lonely so I made a person to go with it, with wild hair. Caleb said it was me. :) Then Willy said we needed presents under the tree and the star made it complete. The boys did great. I must say this is the best looking house we have ever done. And the boys did most of the decorating. Yeah! One more little detail from the super awesome house. Here you can see the smile face Caleb added, the "steam" on the chimney from Peter and the special touch of bushes that Rob suggested. So much fun!

Now for the new installment this year. I was trying to figure out what to do for our Christmas countdown/advent calendar. Do we draw one, make boxes? Then I decided to be fun and make these cute stockings for the 12 day countdown (there was no way I was making 24 of these babies). I think they turned out great.

We will hang them up on the mantel like this then as we do each activity we will turn them around to show the backs. The ones with numbers still showing on the front will be how many days until Christmas. Here is a close up:

And here you can see what some of the backs look like. I am happy with how they turned out. And this way we can use it from year to year and I think it will be another fun thing to pull out and be excited for Christmas time.

One more close up. Not to brag, but I am pleased with how this project turned out. I really enjoy the buildup of Christmas. All of the traditions and fun that come along with celebrating the birth of Christ. It is neat to see how it brings my family together and we are able to enjoy each other more. Let the celebrating continue! We are ready!