Setting Up The Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we put up our little artificial tree. The boys were so excited. Josiah has been asking since September to put the tree up.

I have to include this picture because I look like such a dork. I can't believe Jon took this picture of me but oh well. The boys are eagerly watching momma put up the ornaments.


This is the ornament for 2000........our first Christmas together as husband and wife. We buy a special ornament each year. Actually this ornament was a gift by my sweet friend Kristin. The yearly ornament is usually of somewhere special we visited or a special occasion that year.


Here's Nathan showing you his very favorite ornament. It is the rocket ship from Little Einsteins. He is so attached to this ornament! He doesn't even want it hung on the tree. The first week he even slept with it. The "great" thing about this ornament is that it plays the Little Einstein's theme song. We all have the song memorized by now and throughout the day I find myself singing it........"We're going on a trip, on a special rocket ship.......". Thanks (I think) to Grandma Judy for buying the ornament.


This year we have a nativity scene. I have always wanted one. We actually bought it last year in Israel and I love it! I read in some blogs last year that families don't put baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas day and I really liked that idea so we are doing the same. When we first put the nativity up Josiah kept asking where baby Jesus was. It reminded me of the anticipation many had of the coming Savior and Messiah. So we too will wait for the arrival of baby Jesus to our nativity scene on the morning of December 25.


Nathan really likes the nativity scene also. Many days we find the lamb lying in the manger or the 3 wise men have been sporadically misplaced. The other day I found the shepherd's staff in little pieces (it was a twig so no big deal). After writing this I realize how appropriate it is to have a lamb lying in the manger since Jesus did come once and for all to substitute for that lamb : ).


And finally after some tasty treats daddy is reading a real cute story about Mortimer (a little mouse) who needed a home and tried to live in a family's nativity scene. But when he heard the Christmas story read by the father of the home he realized that someone more important was going to come and live in the manger. No worries, Mortimer ends up living in a gingerbread house. Real cute story and I love how intent Nathan looks.