It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

The day we went to pick out our Christmas tree it was warm enough at 6:30 pm to be wearing short sleeves. Great weather for tree shopping! We went to the same lot we've been going to for 3 years now. They have good quality, healthy, beautiful and affordable Christmas trees. Each year it's taken us less than 15 minutes to pick out our tree. This year we were back home within 20. Perfect for little kids!

Cooper and Nathan helped me decorate this year, whoch was so much better than decorating the tree myself like hhe last two years. After being so sick for 4 weeks, it felt great to get some Christmas decor up.  I love decorating the house for Christmas.

This is when I realized: Oops, I forgot to buy Hudson a stocking! Good thing there was still plenty of time.

A few of the details...

Cooper had the opportunity to go Christmas shopping for a preschool field trip at a place where the kids get to pick out gifts on their own, all for $2 or less. The school asked for a list of who to buy for, etc. and then he got to purchase gifts himself. I wasn't sure what to expect, and thought the quality would be low. But on the contrary!

The field trip was on a Friday and by the following Sunday Coop couldn't wait any longer to give us our gifts. The anticipation was just too much for him. He gave me a nice pink wallet, which had  all the same pockets as my current wallet. I kind of needed a new one, and love the cute pink one he gave me. Really. He also gave me a cute bracelet.

 Hudson was asleep at the time, and opened his gifts later, but they were just as thoughtful: a toy cow, a baby book of Bible stories, and a yo-yo.

Cooper's gift to Daddy was AWESOME: a giant (like 12" tall), decorative pear! Yep. And he was SO excited to give it to him!! He said he picked it because it was the biggest thing they had, and Daddy likes big things, and it's wood. It's something we'll never forget, that's for sure. I think I may put it away with the Christmas things, and call it our "Christmas pear."  Good stuff, Coop!

I was glad Cooper was able to feel the excitement of giving someone else a gift. Later that week I'd written a list of gifts to buy for others. Coop saw the paper and wanted to cut it (he loves using scissors). I told him it was my Christmas list of who to buy presents for. He took the pen and wrote his own name on the list and said very matter of factly, "Mom, I put my own name on your list so you can buy a present for me too, OK?" So cute.

I love December and all of the Christmas-y things that go with it!