Home for the holidays

Lately, I've been really thankful for our home. It's certainly not everything I'd want in a house nor does it reflect our love for old homes full of character; but, it's cozy, grants us shelter, and we have tons of memories with our family next door. Most importantly, it's become our little corner in the world where my family is growing into the people we need to be as we learn to love others and love God. With our fair share of ugly moments of course :)

With that said, I'm looking forward to another holiday season in this house. I can't wait to get a Christmas tree up, decorate for the season, cook festive food, wrap presents, go through the advent calendar with Bray, drink coffee by our tree, and welcome rosy faced littles after a cold day of playing in the snow.

I'm really excited to introduce Braydon to the advent calendar, as well. My plan is to have an activity for each day written on a card, everything from a craft to a festive treat, looking similar to this. Then in the evenings we will use his Jesus Story Book Bible to teach the real spirit behind Advent. Our reading schedule will come from here. I'm hopeful this can become a new tradition!

Now, 'round these parts before we utter a Christmas tune we must get through Thanksgiving. We'll dress the kids in cute outfits, stuff our faces in the name of thankfulness, shout out to the pilgrims and indians, then we'll sprint straight ahead into the most joyous time of the year.

I can't believe it's less than a week away!

I'd love to hear your Christmas traditions. Braydon is finally at the age where he gets into the season and understands a bit more about what's going on. I love, love watching him get so excited! So I'm on the hunt for new traditions we can make our own.

For fun, here are some pictures from last Christmas. Avery was in my belly, three days from gracing the world with those beautiful brown eyes.

 The below picture is Braydon at 6 months. Happy tear.