Is it Christmas already?

I cannot believe that it is Christmas Eve....where did the time go? I have a ton of stuff to do today to get ready for dinner and Christmas day not to mention a Bronco Game slap in the middle of the day. So in these early morning hours I am going to interrupt the regularly scheduled blogging updates from the past year for some real time blogging. Here are some of the sights around our house during this Christmas Season. I started decorating the day after Thanksgiving and it took me about a week to get everything done. This included having to duct tape the 12 year old tree to keep it from falling over. Gotta love duct tape.

I love it when our house is all Christmas'ed up and the kids enjoy it too. Joshua has been a mad man with the Christmas Tree. He cannot keep his hands off the ornaments. Our tree is not one of those fancy decorator trees but is simply a hodge podge of different ornaments that are special to all of us however due to my long time love of the Nutcracker Suite, the tree does bare mostly nutcrackers which I usually add a few to the collection each year. One of my favorite decorated spots is the mantle. Having lived in Florida for so many years and not having a fireplace, I love having all of my stockings hung by the chimney with care.

We didn't get to do alot of our normal Christmas traditions nor was I able to add some new ones that I had hoped to include this year. Life has just consumed us over the past few weeks and as I sit here on Christmas Eve I feel kind of sad that since moving to Colorado we just haven't had the time make those Christmas Memories. My greatest hope is that my kids will always remember a warmth that filled our house during Christmas time whether we baked cookies and attended Christmas events. May they always be thankful that in the midst of eating and gift giving that we directed their hearts to the simplicity of celebrating the birth of our Savior. Happy Christmas Eve to you all!

The Pack before church last week.

Our Tree, post duct tape

The kids have always had a tree in their playroom. This year we placed it downstairs in our basement. It is decorated with some special homemade ornaments from my nana and my dad. Here is one of the cross-stitch ornaments my nana made.

The little wooden heart is an example of some ornaments that my dad made. I love them. And the ice skates, well I found them at Pier One and thought they were darling.

Here is the whole tree and nothing but the tree.....

Our upstairs banister adorned with garland.

My favorite spot of the house....

More banister shots

Here are a few shots of the newest Nutcracker additions to the tree....

Oldies but goodies.....my Steinbach collection. I have quite a few Nutcrackers most of which are the inexpensive kind from Target and Pier One but thanks to my mom and my nana I do have a few nicer ones for the collection.

This little guy is a less expensive one but my Grace loves him...he is a little different from the rest because he is short and fat and has a perfect spot every year.