I'm a huge Christmas fanatic. I just love celebrating the birth of our Saviour and building memories with my family. Yesterday we put up our tree. Nathan helped pull apart the branches (artificial, of course) and he put the entire tree together. He also helped put the lights on. I then added the garland and Ken put the angel on. We played Christmas music while decorating and had a great time. I served Christmas cookies and punch to all those who helped. Of course, everyone helped so we had a nice treat afterward. This morning, I added the glass bulbs and Nathan put most of the special ornaments on the tree.

My parents came to visit today. Mom and I picked up The Adventure of Christmas by Lisa Welchel. I haven't had a chance to check it out too much, but it gives reading for each day of Advent and different activity ideas. Nathan left to spend the week with my parents, so we won't be able to begin until he gets home. We also bought an Advent calendar with chocolate inside. The kids will take turns each day getting a piece of candy. They also had the Stephen Curtis Chapman Christmas CD on sale for $5, so I picked that up too.

Now that Nathan is gone, I'm going to spend the week deep cleaning my house. Tonight will be spent making 900 copies of my Christmas card to go out to my newspaper customers. Katie is spending the night with her Aunt June and cousins and Ken is going to work with me tonight. He's not very excited about it, but is willing to help me since I wouldn't finish on time otherwise, and our Christmas tips pay for all of our Christmas gifts and help us to catch up on bills.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and meaningful Christmas season.