{little bits of christmas here and there}
one night in early november (or was it even back in october?), ben said to me, "we should put up the christmas tree and decorate on thanksgiving night, after the kids go to bed, and then have christmas with them on friday morning." at first i wasn't sure what to think of that. that's so early for christmas! but, ben reminded me, the kids had really missed having christmas in our house last year. we didn't decorate our house last year because i was teaching and we were planning to be in minnesota over christmas. i didn't want to decorate so we could leave and then come home and have to put it all away. ben thought that if we decorated thanksgiving night, we'd get to enjoy our decorations for a month before we head to minnesota once again. our home would feel festive. and we'd have decorating company - ben's brother and his wife had been planning to join us for thanksgiving week, and wouldn't it be fun to have a little bit of christmas with them, too.
the idea grew on me. ben and i decided on a small gift list for each kiddo and got their things ordered. i remembered decorating for christmas at the end of november one other year, with two dear friends who were visiting us. and i thought - we need to do for our family, in our own house, the things that will make this season festive and joyful.
{decorating in late november 2011 with friends}
then, another great ben idea. we were on our anniversary get-away, and he thought of picking up goody bags for each of the six of us for our "christmas" morning. so, he and i went to target {late one evening}, put six gift bags in our cart, and walked the christmas candy aisles, putting things that we knew each person likes in the bag we had picked for that person. what fun!!
fast forward to thanksgiving day. it was a beautiful day spent with dear friends and ben's brother and his wife. there were ten of us and so much good food and so much laughter and so much joy. {and all day long, i knew we were going to surprise the kids with christmas!}
{sunwashed thanksgiving feasting}
that night, we got the kids into bed and the four of us set to work. we turned on some christmas music, andrea and i started to bring things up from the basement, ben and jake set to work putting the tree together and stringing lights, and we decked the halls.
it was even better than i would have guessed to have jake and andrea decorating with us. their presence added a fun energy to our unpacking of memories and making new memories.
{everything ready for a morning surprise}
and in the morning? oh, in the morning!
when isaac came down the stairs, his face registered disbelief and then pure awe and overflowing joy.
{remember zoe? she came with jake and andrea to visit us.}
and then maddie came down. and i'm quite certain that she (almost) cried. ben was close to the stairs and she just buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms tight around him.
we all enjoyed sipping coffee and eating apple-pie bars for breakfast, sitting around the christmas tree, in the sunlight, with christmas music and joy playing through the air, making all merry and bright.
then we let the kids open their presents. another surprise!
and moved on over to the table, for more coffee and the bags of treats that ben and i had put together.
we unpacked treats and laughed and sampled candies and traded and tasted. and it all felt very merry indeed.
i hope that you are all finding the moments of merry and bright in your december. i hope that you do the decking of halls that you need to do for you and your family, in your time and your way.
happy christmas, my friends. and happiest moments of celebration.
with love, e