Just a quick note to say “Woo-hoo!” All of our Christmas cards have been sent out. It’s quite a relief to be done. I even addressed them all by hand (to the addressee and the return address). In Christmas colors! I’m such a dork…

On another happy note, it’s really nice having people how nice your picture turned out considering the 2.5 year old did NOT want her picture taken (even when a bribe of a sucker was involved) and a 6 month old who hadn’t napped. And parents who were a bit frazzled that said kids wouldn’t cooperate for just 15 min.! (As soon as I get one scanned, I’ll post.)

We finally put up our tree this past weekend. It is an ugly fake one, but will work until we can a) afford a new one, and b) the kids are a little older. And heck, when it’s dark and the tree lights are on, it looks kind of nice! Sophia had a grand time decorating the tree, and redecorating it, and redecorating it… I think you get the picture. The tree looks a bit odd because all of the nice ornaments are hanging at the top while the “ugly” ones are hanging at the bottom (since I don’t care if they get broken by little ones).

This is the first Christmas we’re actually celebrating with our own little family. The past two years Sophia was so young it didn’t matter. So we didn’t bother with stockings or presents here, we did it all at my parents house. But this year, she’s old enough to understand. It’s going to be fun to see her wake up in the morning and see the presents under the tree, and gifts in her stocking. I can’t wait to see her expression on her face. (Note to self: buy stockings!)

Getting close to completing our holiday shopping. We have a couple gifts we need to buy for charity, and a couple for our friends. We know what we’re getting the friends, but have no ideas for the charities (one is for a womens shelter for battered women and their children, the other is for a needy family in the area). I’ll probably buy stuff that I think I would have enjoyed getting as a teenager (that seems to be the age they are in most need of gifts for). Boy, I can’t wait to have all of this done!

Off to do some holiday reading with the 2.5 year old. Enjoy as you prepare for your holidays!

(Side note: I love that we’re getting lots of snow before Christmas. It sure puts me in the holiday mood!!!)