Christmas festivities have begun!

Yesterday we decorated the inside of our house for Christmas! This is, by far, one of my favorite days of the year. It always has been. My parents always made a big "to do" of it. It was always a family night and my mom would make delicious appetizers, cheese dip and cookies instead of a traditional dinner. And so I've noticed that those same traditions are being carried into my family. And I love it! So yesterday, once the boys were down for naps, Jeremy set up the tree and we prepared for our little decorating helpers to join us. Once Holden woke up, he helped us hang ornaments and later only broke 1 glass ball. :) Pax woke up soon after Holden and hung his little ornament that we bought him last year. Then we had our fill of taco soup, chips, tamale bites and these decicious chocolate cookies! Here are a few pictures from our fun family night. I hope that these nights will become a special memory for my children and they will grow to love them as much as I did, and still do.

Holden playing with a snow globe.

Hanging his first ornament. He seemed to put all his ornaments on the same branch. Yes, I did have to rearrange when he wasn't looking. I'm sure many of you moms out there would have left them alone. Props to you all. I just couldn't do it. Sue me. I want it to look PRETTY!

Holden showing off our black Santa. I have another post coming on how we are diversifying our decor. It gets a little more diverse every year and we are loving it!

Pax hanging his special ornament that we bought him last year on his first Christmas.

The boys in front of the finished tree. Someone is always in motion when I'm trying to get a picture. Obviously, this time it was Pax.

And you'll notice our Advent calendar in the middle here. I bought it on sale after Christmas last year. I had wanted one since Holden's first Christmas when he was 6 months old. Which would have been a ridiculous idea at his age. But I have been racking my brain for the last 3 weeks trying to come up with 24 creative things as we count down the month of December. I am going to attempt to blog each idea as we do them. I still only have 20 ideas, so feel free to leave a comment if you have a suggestion. Some are fun traditions we always do. And some will take us back to the true meaning of Christmas. Too say I'm excited about the Advent calendar and doing some special things with my boys, is a huge understatement. It should be some fun memory making for this family.

And one last picture of the boys in their matching Christmas jammies. Occassionally, a little matchy-matchy is fun fun fun!