It is officially the CHRISTMAS SEASON!

Wow, sorry about that! I took an unintentional blogging break since Thanksgiving!  I was having so much fun with my family while everyone was here and together that it has taken me a while to get back to blogging.  It was a full weekend!  During which time my sister lost ALL of her work documents that were on a thumb drive only to find out days after scouring the house and turning it upside down that Cruzer (1 yr old) had fed it to Freddy our Gerbil! How do we know it was Cruz?  I asked him and he proudly assented that why yes he had given it to Freddy.  Fortunately Freddy doesn't like plastic and Pierce found it intact when he stuck his hand in the tank to feed him.  After a quick test we were relieved to find out that the drive was functioning and evidently resistant to gerbil pee!

My family with my sister and her husband as well as my parents. Did I mention it was over 70 degrees on Thanksgiving!

Bring on the traditions!  Black Friday has come and gone and with it Cyber Monday so it is definitely official.. THE SEASON IS ON!

I love how our mantel came out this year just rearranging what we had on hand.

 The day after Thanksgiving is always our official Christmas decorating day. 

 We break out the tree (yes it is a fake artificial one, but it saves a tree every year :) ) and my hubby sets it up and messes with the lights and then me and the kiddos decorate it.  I love it.  It is always a fun day of decorating while listening to Christmas music, and eating what we call "platter" which includes crackers and cheese, chicken sausage, olives, appetizers...(pretty much anything you can put on a community platter and snack off of).  Don't get me wrong we have a small house and there really isn't that much to decorate but we drag it out for the fun of it.  The mantel of our fireplace gets an overhaul, the garland is hung and once the tree is up that about does it.

December 1st for us starts two other traditions for us...

The first is that of the chocolate advent calendars!  My mother in law sends chocolate advent calendars to every kid (there are 4 of them!) and even Cruzy at one year old knows what is in there now and is constantly pointing at the calendar for me to get him more.  Sadly for him he has to wait till the next day.  The older kiddos Pierce, Dahlia and Bella have been counting down for days.  Bella ,being two,couldn't take the temptation and help herself to as many as she could get at before I realized what was going on!  Fortunately (for me and not for her) in a small house it doesn't take long for mom to catch you.

The other tradition is one we are just starting and have waiting for since last Christmas.  Every kid loves to open presents of course and is constantly asking "Can't we just have one?", and I love reading Christmas or winter stories to the kids this time of year every night before bed so when I heard about this tradition I knew this was for us.  You get 25 books from your collection, the thrift store,etc and wrap each one separately.  Then every night before Christmas in the month of December you let the kids pick out one wrapped book to open and then read it to them.  Stories and presents what is not to love!

Photo from Christmas Gift Ideas

I have a few other traditions we are wanting to start but haven't done so yet and I hope to be sharing those with you as well later.  I LOVE TRADITIONS!  The season is such a fun time to just enjoy friends and family.  I spent so much time making handmade presents last year that I always felt under the gun and didn't have the free time to just slow down and enjoy the season.  I hope to change that this year and am planning for a simpler yet richer Christmas.I would love to hear your traditions or favorite seasonal family outings. Leave me a comment and share them if you get the chance,

I better go and enjoy a few minutes of quiet with the fire before it burns out for the night.

The fireplace hearth and mantel are my favorite things in this house.  My husband built it and I just LOVE how it turned out.