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

Christmas has come to our house! I love this time of year when we can pull out all of the Christmas decorations and transform our house from the everyday to that wonderful holiday feeling home. We have a great time decorating and we always decorate together. I don't remember being able to help decorate the tree when I was little, my mom always wanted the perfect tree. So, here we do the opposite! lol Bryan sets up the tree and puts the star on the top and then me, Bry and Jon do the lights. After the lights come the gumdrop strands. Which I love! The youngest kid always thinks they are real candy every time we pull them out. Makes me laugh every time! Once those things are done, then it's free reign for the kids to put on the decorations. We have so many decorations that mean something to us that it is so much fun to decorate and remember when that ornament was made or purchased. For a long time we bought a new one every year and have the year written on them. We haven't bought one this year, but have for every other year. I will have to get on that! Bryan and I were married on Dec 18 and a smart lady in my ward who was helping with my Bridal Shower asked that the guests put an ornament on top of the presents instead of a bow. So I have so many fun ornaments from that shower that remind me of our wedding. My favorites being a handmade Bride and Groom. The bride and groom are not the prettiest ornaments, but they are a lot of fun! We also have an ornament for the first Christmas of each child's life and they love being able to put their own ornaments on the tree. It is a happy tradition that I hope will continue always!

I love the enthusiasm that the kids have for Christmas. Alex keeps saying he is "so excited for Christmas!" Their bright eyes are full of anticipation and I love that about them. I love that my four youngest kids still fully believe in Santa (and the easter bunny, toothfairy, etc!). It kinda cracks me up, really. Some of these kids are getting a little old and I am glad they are still innocent! Too many things in life try to take away from that.

This Christmas feels so much different from last year. We didn't have a lot of good things happening last year and it was hard going through the holidays and trying to find happiness. But we tried and put together the best Christmas we could for our children with the help of kind family members and a wonderful ward. This year feels so much better! Bryan and I both talked about how this year we have hope. Hope that life is getting better and that we have a chance to break free from the problems that have plagued us in the past two years. Much of that is due to his new job. He enjoys what he is doing and learning and it's fun to see him come home happy from work. That is a switch!! He has generous bosses and they are good to both of us. And if the company does well, there will be raises in the future that will eventually allow us to breathe again. All I ask for is to be able to breathe again! Surely that is not too much to ask for, right? Having this new job has changed our outlook and we are so enjoying the start of the Christmas season. It will probably be a small Christmas again, but that is ok! I will take hope in the future over stuff any day!!

We still have to set up the lights and stuff outside but that will have to wait till Monday night. Poor Bryan has to do most of that alone as I am still supposed to be off my foot and now Jonathan has ripped a tendon and has a sprained ankle. :( Poor kid! He is bummed out about that right now. He has no idea how he will be able to handle school with crutches and a violin. On top of that, he has baseball tryouts going on right now. I know that it is hard for him to miss out on all of that and I know he is frustrated when we are decorating and he just watches. He did have some fun this weekend when he was asked to Winter Formal by a cute, fun girl in the stake. With the help of Tyrel and Kimberly (Kimbo!!) and us, he answered her back by sending her on a scavenger hunt ending with a pair of mittens and a ice chest full of snowballs. Inside the snowballs were letters she had to unscramble to find her answer. It was yes, of course! Anyway, should be something fun for him to look forward to. Hopefully he will be off of the crutches by then!

I am going to make me a cup of apple cider and enjoy the rest of this cool, rainy weather! Good night!!