Most Wonderful Time of the Year

What a busy week it's been!  It's been two weeks since Thanksgiving and we're in the thick of the Christmas season activities.  Last night, I met my sister downtown and we had a girls night.  We ate at Copper Grill and went to see White Christmas at the Rep.  It was so much fun to hang out with her and enjoy this play that we both remember so well. 

This little Elf stayed home with his daddy.  I sure did miss him, and we've played hard today.  

Since I've spent the last two weeks going to work every day, I've kinda let the house get out of control. So this morning was Operation Get-It-Together-Before-Gamma-Gets-Here.  Picking up was difficult because Jackson was tearing it up faster than I could get stuff put together.  Luckily he took a two-hour nap and we were able to get the house cleaned.  Before that though, it was time for a craft project.  I found this handprint ornament kit at Hallmark, and he did pretty good with it.  It took three times to get the perfect handprint, but I'm excited about the results. 

It's been really warm here today, so we went outside this afternoon to pick up leaves.  This is my yearly holiday decorations post, which I know is boring, but it's so I can look back next year to see what I did.  

I found my old nativity scene today and let Jackson play with the "babee" as he calls it. 

Hope my command hooks stay up - I've had trouble keeping them stuck. 

My outside lights are all really inside.  Easy on/Easy off. 

This is my "mantle".

Jackson really hasn't bothered the tree, and the main reason I have it on the bench is just to free up the floor space.  Now the problem is where to put the presents.  

Mimi made him a couple of Christmas shirts, and he loves his "MeeMou" hat..."ho ho ho".

And just for laughs, this is what I found him doing today.  Nothing like playing 52-pad pickup.  Good times. 

I wanted to go to the Cabot Christmas parade tomorrow, but it's been cancelled due to the incoming weather.  After church, the only thing I have to do is shuffle some stuff around in the guest room to prepare for Gamma's arrival late tomorrow night.  She'll be here with us until the 20th, and we have lots more fun stuff to do in the days ahead.