We Don't Have A Card or A Single Gift

but in three short days we made our house a home for the holidays.

Do you know the Christmas Jingle and Belle stories.  They bark along as you read.  Darling.  



Yes, the pumpkins are long gone but this is just how I do Thanksgiving morning, a new ornament for the little trees until the big tree arrives





But everything else went up.  All of it.  And believe me there are plenty of other trees around here.



Our 'big real tree' isn't up yet... it's too early for the real live tree in all its glory to be in our living room.



This year we gave Anna the Cinderella castle that lights up and does the whole night firework show that she loved so much when we went to Disney this summer. 









And Abigail got the "Runaway Railroad" (or at least it looks like it) from Disney... I still can't believe that she loved that ride! 







All while watching the Macys parade on tv











Oh is 1934 book from UK... be still my heart. 



Daddy help to dec the house inside and out.  



Lot's of Holiday tea at night 



And Christmas stories during "Rest and Relaxation" that Abigail needs to have on weekends.  





Anna enjoyed unpacking her Christmas snow globe collection.  



And a Christmas tea party



And so in those three short days after Thanksgiving I soaked in their littleness again.  Or maybe it was that I soak in our little life again.  The camera does that for me.  Stops the time, helps me to notice.  And be grateful.



Something about Abigail's little face here as Anna pours the tea.  Do some pictures do that to you too? 





The first Sunday of Advent at our Church





Making the Advent wreath after Mass 





Outdoor lights with daddy







And backyard lit up candy canes for Candy Cane Lane we call it








Like for the season of Advent and the glow of those purple and pink candles.  The advent book we read every night and the praying we do around the kitchen table.




I'm all for new beginnings. And right now I'm in that glow stage of Christmas.  Maybe it's denial.  We are in fact without a Christmas card, a real tree, a single gift, or anything else.  But this new beginning of Advent feels so good.  I'm going to soak this in for just a bit longer.

If I'm gone for a few days or two weeks you'll know why... the fact that it's Christmas and there are actually things to do has hit me.  But I plan on being present in Advent just a bit longer.