Christmas Is Coming!

Today marked Maggie's last sign language class for the semester. As we were driving home she said that she felt like class had just started. She has enjoyed it SO much and she will probably take it next semester too. Today was my day clean the downstairs of the church where we meet. Each family signs up for a cleaning day. Two people are assigned for upstairs and two for downstairs. Of course, I was the only one that showed up to clean downstairs (an ongoing problem with the lazy homeschool moms), but Maggie helped. We took out lots of trash, swept and did a little "tidying" in the bathrooms. (Maggie loves the word tidy) My mom was kind enough to keep Ellie so that I wouldn't have two cleaning helpers. I enjoyed quiet time in the car and managed to get our Christmas cards addressed while Maggie practiced for her concert. It's next Tuesday and she's so excited!

I think it's safe to say that I'm finished with Christmas shopping! The attic is holding the presents that need to be wrapped and I'm sure I'll to get to that soon! I bought several things for myself this year, but they'll really be from Big Daddy and the girls. I think I'll probably get a surprise too. Big Daddy is hard to buy for because he buys what he wants/needs throughout the year. Since becoming a SAHM, I limit my "me" things.

I spent nearly all of Friday working on our decorations. Big Daddy was doing homework upstairs, so both of the girls "helped" me. Ellie wasn't all that interested, but Maggie was in the middle of everything! Therefore, it took about 8 hours. The longest it's ever taken. It was fun to go through all of the ornaments and Maggie wanted to know where every single one came from.The Foyer
(I decided to add a little garland to the table because I had some sort of light/garland mishap with the mantle. I used extra garland and lights on the mantle and didn't have enough for outside of our TALL front door, like I did last year.)

The Mantle
(Big Daddy sent me flowers a couple of weeks ago and they came in that vase! I bought a few red berry branches from Hobby Lobby and it worked out great as a little something different!)

Our Tree

Both girls have their own trees again this year. I love the way their rooms look when I tuck them in at night. They look so angelic under the glow of the Christmas tree.

Ellie's tree is white with silver balls and gingerbread men. Maggie's is a pink tinsel tree with multi-colored balls and a few of her small ornaments. I MADE her put her big ornaments on the big tree this year.)

Olivia (the hamster) has her own tree too!!
(White lights and red berries)

We have our first holiday party this week! We'll be going to our homeschool group Christmas party on Thursday afternoon. That evening will be our town's Christmas parade. If the weather cooperates, we'll be there!

Our church has something Christmas-related every weekend in the month of December. There are different musical performances, plays and a "Birthday Party for Jesus" for both preschoolers (at the Children Museum) and K-5 grades (at a bounce place). Lots of opportunities for celebration.

Maggie is counting down to Thursday! She loves the first day of any month, but is especially excited to start the season of Advent and get a chocolate treat from her Advent calendar too.
We will also be doing a daily devotional leading up to Christmas during our morning "Circle Time". It's a great way to share a little bit of the Christmas story everyday.

If you celebrate the season of Advent I'd love to know how!