It's beginning to look alot like...

CHRISTMAS!!!

We put the tree up tonight! Hooray! The boys were so excited...and I think RJ knew something exciting was going to happen. Greg was out of town for the weekend at his annual deer hunting trip with his dad and brother. I had told Will we would start decorating for Christmas and he could hardly stand the suspense. With every box I brought down from the attic, Will would open it and start unpacking it immediately. I literally had thought we would START decorating but his energy kept us going till every box was unpacked by Saturday evening. The boys helped me put up each creche that I have, which was so fun! I have VIVID memories of helping mom put up her creche...a beuatiful one of santons straight from Provence France that she got when she studied abroad in college. I loved seeing every little firgurine get unrolled and imagine in my mind the special role they had in Jesus' big arrival. That love of creches carried over (along with calling them by their French name!) and I now have about 15 different creches. I have loved watching the boys learn to love them too and even be careful with them! A few pieces have gotten broken here and there but each one of those brings a story too!

Once Daddy got home Sunday afternoon to a fully decked out house, he quickly saw the level of energy and anticipation we were working with here and agreed to decorate the tree after dinner. It was a sweet time! RJ loved handing every ornament to Daddy and helping climb his step ladder too! Grady found some favorite ones and quickly slipped into his own world of imagination. Will was so into it and wanted to know the story behind every single ornament...amazingly he remembered the stories of many of them! He got the honors of topping the tree this year, perhaps for the last year as Greg's arms shook when he lifted 50 LONG pounds overhead, leaning forward. Next time Will gets that job, he'll be doing it all by himself! Wow, hard to imagine!!!

Oh and we topped off the priceless evening with a hunting 101 lesson from Daddy. He covered gun safety, parts of the gun, some of what happens at the deer lease, etc. Will ate it up...every minute of it. After hunting 101, we moved to food 101 and covered the origins of all meats and let me say it's confusing to a 3 year old that ham, bacon and pork all come from a pig! With each question Will asked, I wondered more and more when his first deer hunting trip will be? No doubt sooner than momma's ready! :-)

Well, not exactly the details that were included in Norman Rockwell painintgs but it was better than I even dreamed!!!