Ready for the holidays to begin?

It seems like 2007 just began sometimes...and it's almost over. Thanksgiving is just a few days away. And that means that Christmas is soon to follow. I can pull out the Christmas movies like the Muppet Christmas Carol (love it!!), A Charlie Brown Christmas with the wacky metal trees, and other seasonal music...like the Nutcracker and the Messiah. Woo hoo! The Playmobil nativity will grace our mantel soon as well. You can see the boys getting ready for Christmas a few years back on this scrapbook page I've posted here.

The stores are getting ready as well. Who are we kidding? They've been getting ready since Labor Day!! Even the grocery store has the trees and light out now, so you know things are getting serious. But the sign that Christmas is really close at hand is that Trader Joe's has Candy Cane Joe-Joe's now. Pure perfection and bliss right here on Planet Earth. I LOVE candy cane joe-joe's!!

I've done only a tiny bit of Christmas shopping, and it has all been online, primarily at amazon. I didn't buy much for anyone last year and this year won't be much different. We tend to buy the kids things periodically throughout the year. Dh and I tend to buy what we want when we want it. I have learned that the man doesn't do gifts very well, so it's up to me to take care of that. I'll do my usual Shutterfly calendars for the parents with kid pics and then another small gift to go with it.

Rob and I'll be making candles for teacher and grandparent gifts this year, as well as decorating bags and filling them with homemade cookies, a homemade ornament, and a candle. He loves working on this. We have done it since he was in preschool. I know that wasn't THAT long ago.

They have this week off from school, so it will be a good time to make the candles and bake some cookies and get some of the projects underway. He has made a few of the ornaments already. I let him play with my alcohol inks! How many moms of 6 year olds would do that?