O Christmas Tree

Thanksgiving came late this year which means after the turkey digested, the Tatums got straight to work on Christmas. This last week, Tim and I had off from work and we spent pretty much every day doing something Christmas'ey' with the kids. We hung the lights outside. Hannah loved holding the strand for Tim and Jack watched from his seat. Mommy was the director of course and Daddy was the muscle/height. I think they look really good this year. Hannah still likes to say "Purple, my favorite." She is so thoughtful of other people and also has to mention that Daddy likes Blue, Grandpa likes Green, Mimi likes Yellow, etc. We also put out all of our decorations. This was another family affair. I sort of forgot how much Christmas we have and how long it takes, but I love seeing the excitement it brings to Hannah. Now that she is old enough to help, I have to let go a little if things aren't just right because if it makes Hannah happy to help then it was worth it. I want to enjoy the memories not just have the perfect house. Hannah loved getting out all the Christmas books and stuffed toys. Her favorite thing though is still the Candy Cane Train. I'm sure we will be replacing the batteries in that soon. We got the elf on the shelf out. Ours is named Dexter. Hannah thinks it is so fun looking for it each morning, but the kid has higher level thinking skills higher then most two years old. She just looks us straight in the eye and says, "So who moved it, you or Daddy?" For now she is happy to play along with us, but she knows something doesn't add up. Other fun toys are her nativity. Baby Jesus now goes to the doctor for check ups (because that's how we play in this family.) We also went this week and got our tree. Or should I say two trees. Hannah was excited because we let her pick out her very own 2 foot tree for upstairs. She enjoys running through the trees and collecting the fallen branches. Tim always puts on Christmas music and we decorate as a family. Hannah actually did pretty good. I only had to fix about three that were so close to the edge they were barely hanging on. This year she says her three favorites are her age 1 Minnie mouse ornament Granny made, the pink sparkle heart from Aunt Linda to forever remind us how strong she was at her surgery and her new snow white. Also new this year is Jack's stocking from Nana. I will have to post a picture of our stockings because Nana makes the best one of a kind stockings ever. I really love Jacks. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot but it's late and blogging with two kids has become short and sweet. Basically, our home is beginning to look a lot like Christmas and I love it!