All about Christmas!

I saw these ornaments earlier in the year and thought they would make great gifts. But they were a little overpriced so I started searching the net and found the Tiny Tots and Polka Dots site. Erin's were much more affordable and made great Christmas gifts for the boys' teachers.
I recommend that you check out her site. She has lots of cute items that would make wonderful gifts throughout the year. Erin even hand delivered my ornaments and was sweet enough to put a rush on my order. I will definitely be ordering from her again!

Here is another idea if you are crafty. Leah Belle made some with a friend over Thanksgiving. I am very impressed with how professional they look - these girls are talented!
You can find step by step instructions for the ornaments here. I am going to attempt to make some next year.

A side note...
If you like to do a Christmas countdown with your kids I would like to recommend a great book to you. Last December Lisa Whelchel spoke at our church's Christmas brunch about Christmas traditions. Afterwards I bought The ADVENTure of Christmas book and received a free advent calendar.

I saved it to use this season and we have all learned so much! Lisa writes about the meanings of various Christmas practices and symbols to help us keep this busy season focused on Christ. You can buy the book on Lisa's site and right now get the calendar for free. Definitely a must have! Check out the book here.

I have not posted the boys' picture with Santa this year so since this post has a Christmas feel to it I will do it here.
We love this sweet man! He comes here from Canada every year to play Santa. He is so gentle, patient and makes each child feel special. Over the past nine years one of our boys has taken a picture with him - that is except for one regrettable year. In 2001 I thought I should go to the "other" mall that goes all out in decorating for Christmas. Boy was that a mistake Jeremy will not let me live down! That is the only year that M. cried in his Santa picture. The Santa at that mall was not full of Christmas spirit or maybe he was having a bad day, but we did not have a good Santa experience. When we put the pictures on the mantle each year Jeremy always threatens to photo shop the bad Santa (as he calls him) out. Don't tell him this, but if I knew it would work I would let him do it!