christmas time

I LOVE Christmas, it would have to be my most favourite time of the year. i love the festivity, the magic, the anticipation, the giving, watching little eyes shine. it is a busy time of year for us with Arch's birthday on the 22nd and Hugo's on the 8th Jan but i love all the entertaining that goes with this.
we always do annual Christmas drinks at our place and i spend weeks excitedly pouring over recipe books to find new ideas and then days cooking... my favourite way to spend a day a house full of people and cooking food for them.
today Hugo was home sick so i decided that seeing he was here we would put the tree up a day early. i think after an hour of watching me trying to get the lights "just right" the boys went and found something else to do. .....
anyhoo eventually my lights were almost OK , and the three of us decorated the tree.

i have wonderful memories of decorating our family tree and now decorating our tree with my boys is precious. i love decorating the tree and as i sat amongst the decorations reminiscing about Christmas's' past and events/holidays we have had that we have collected ornaments i am thankful for all the happy times and memories i have with my family. i hope the boys will continue to enjoy this time and our traditions will be forged into our memories. this year i started a new tradition. we have placed an advent wreath on our table and each night we light a candle. Last Sunday was the first Sunday of advent so we light one candle. we continue this each night this week, then next Sunday we light 2, and so on until the Sunday before Christmas all candles are lit. having a centre piece at the table is a nice way to think about the true meaning of Christmas. i discovered this tradition from playgroup. i have also created (almost) an advent calender filled with statements/thoughts/activities/things to do on the particular day as well as a treat.

after reading the blog 13mimosa i am inspired to post everyday up to and including christmas. a way to remember christmas 2009.