Getting in the Spirit

As much as I've wanted to, it's been hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year.  Because of the holidays, orders are coming in like crazy (which is a good thing), and I don't have time for much else. Grace, who usually is very good at playing independently, has reached her limit, too.  Now when she sees me open my laptop, she wants to sit on my lap and snuggle, and how can I say no to that?

We have managed to sneak in a few Christmastime activities here and there.  During the last hour of the last day of this year's collection, we dropped off our shoe box for Operation Christmas Child.  I can't recommend doing this enough-it has made a real difference in Grace.  It's helped her to understand that there are children in the world that don't have families or homes or food, and who don't receive gifts for Christmas. It's a very tangible way of showing that we care about others and want to help.

We let Grace pick the gender and age of the child we would give a box to and she chose a three year old girl. The three of us went shopping to fill our box, but let Grace pick out most of the items.  She never cried or made a fuss because she couldn't keep things for herself.  She was excited for the little girl to receive her gifts, which made my heart  happy. The best part is we get to track where the box goes and possibly have contact with the little girl who receives our box.
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Since I had two photo sessions on Saturday and the weather looked terrible for Sunday, we decided to get our Christmas tree Friday afternoon.  We met my parents at Doumel's Tree Farm.  While we waited for Dave, Dad cut down their tree.  I ended up going back to the pre-cut section and buying an 8 foot Fraser Fir that looked nicer than anything I could find in the field.  Grace enjoyed trudging around in the snow and watching the dogs at the farm chase each other around.  After the men folk loaded up the trees, we headed off to Bennigans for dinner. 

Decorating our tree has been a three day process.  Friday we bought the tree, Saturday Dave hung the lights, and this morning Grace and I decorated the tree together.  I can't count how many times I heard Grace say, "Wow, it's so beautiful!"

Last week Grace remarked that she wanted to write a letter to Santa.  She has been saying that she wants a camera, a phone and a green puppy, and apparently Santa needed to be made aware of this.  So, while Grace told me what she wanted to say, I wrote the words down for her.  She was pretty excited!

I'm hoping that I can get the majority of my work done in the next few days and that I can really enjoy the weeks to come. Three is going to be such a fun age for Christmas.  I can't wait!