Advent

Happy Advent season! We are so excited to prepare as a family to celebrate the coming of our Savior! This year we will be sticking close to home for the holidays. So to begin our celebration, Jeff surprised me by taking Friday off work to celebrate my birthday. On Friday, we decided to buy a REAL Christmas tree!! When we told the kids we thought they would be excited, but were met with blank stares. Luke and Ben said, "Our old tree isn't real? What are we going to do with the one in the attic?" Are they deprived or what?

They did start to get excited though as we brought home the tree and they got to watch Daddy set it up.

I was very excited. I personally think that the smell of a real NC Fraser Fir in my living room is the best birthday present ever! :)

After naps on Friday, we continued our celebration by heading to a local family home and old fashioned candy store that sets up a huge Christmas lights display.

They even have a train that we were able to ride, taking in all the beautiful lights!

What a fun way to start out our month of December!! We started to pull out all of our decorations. The kids have all had fun exploring our various kids nativities and books. Much to her brothers' dismay, Gracie hoards all of the Baby Jesus and Mary figures as her own. We will need to keep working on that one!