The Reason for the Season!

One of my favorite Christmas decorations is the Nativity scene.  My hubby and I had trouble finding one that we both liked, that wasn't real pricey.  After a couple of Christmases and Birthdays my set was completed!

We didn't have a great spot for it this year, so the background of the picture is a little noisy, being it's our kitchen.  I love the Nativity and I love displaying what we are celebrating this time of year.  May you be blessed as you reflect on the reason for the season!

A Christmas Tradition

One Christmas tradition in our home has been making Christmas cookies and delivering them to our neighbors.  This will be the 4th year of our tradition!  It's a fun way to meet our neighbors and the ones that live below us and to the left told us they look forward to our cookies!  Usually we make 3-4 different kinds, but this year, we only made two, Red Velvet and Egg Nog cut-out.

Another tradition is the JQ99 Cookie Bake-off.  This year was their second annual Christmas Cookie Traditions Bake-off and our second year to enter (Hubby always comes as my helper).  This year I used a recipe from my aunt.  I called them "Festive Chocolate Chunk Cookies".  They had dried cherries in them and were pretty tasty.

 

Even though our cookie was really yummy,  there were lots of good looking cookies and we didn't win the competition.  It was a good time though!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Another way we prepare for Christmas (I talked about Christmas cards in my previous post) is by decorating our home.  One of the largest items of Christmas decor is a Christmas tree.  Hubby and I have lived in an apartment for the past few years.  Although we love our apartment, it doesn't have a ton of space.  For that reason and the fact that we are visiting family over Christmas (and therefore not here to enjoy it), we haven't put up our Christmas tree for a few years.  Well, I did buy a small table top tree last year and our downstairs neighbors gave us a table top tree too!  So we had something, but it wasn't quite the same.  As you may know from an earlier post we are preparing for our own little Pumpkin come March.  In doing so we have gotten rid of some furniture to make room for baby furniture and space to play!  Since we have a bit more space this year, I decided we should put up our tree.  I wasn't sure about taking the time to put ornaments on it, it's all ready pre-lit and trees can look nice that way.  However we had some friends over for dinner last week and Hubby thought a great way to entertain the kids would be to have them decorate our tree!

Even though our tree didn't get properly "fluffed" before the decorating began, I think it's beautiful and the kids really enjoyed putting the ornaments on!  Now if only they would come back in January and help us put the ornaments away . . . . . .  :)

Preparing for Christmas

We have been spending some of our time this week preparing for Christmas, the merriest time of year!  One of the things we often do this time of year is to send Christmas greetings to our family and friends.  It's been awhile since hubby and I have sent a picture card, we've migrated to emailing our pictures and letter.  I love getting snail mail from others! Maybe we should return the favor and send some ourselves.  It's so much more fun to open up an envelope than an email and what would decorate our fridge if we didn't have pictures of friends and family?  This year I'm checking out Shutterfly's HUGE selection.  I'm sure to find something I like.  I want one that says "Merry Christmas" and not "Happy Holidays".  I'm celebrating Christ's birth and I want to wish others a merry time if they chose to celebrate as well.

  

These are a few of my favorites, but I haven't made a final decision yet. . . . and I'll let hubby help decide.

Another Christmas tradition is giving gifts to our loved ones.  Shutterfly has some great gift ideas.  I've made calendars as gifts before and the recipients have loved them.  It's a fun place to showcase the scenic pictures I love taking.  If you are planning to give a calendar, using Shutterfly to create one is more meaningful than picking one up in the store.  They have so many designs to choose from.  You can make it as simple or decorative as you want.  I'm planning to make at least one this year for a gift.

My sister loves their photo books.  We put together a wedding album for her from Shutterfly and just recently a book celebrating her daughter's first year of life.  What a beautiful keepsake and easier than traditional scrapbooking!

Hopefully later this week I'll find sometime to show you some of our other preparations to celebrate Christ's birth.  What a fun and joyful time of year!

May you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!