It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas!

The Christmas spirit was in the air around here....in November!

Before the house was even decorated!

Before Thanksgiving!

In typical fashion, my blogging is still a few weeks behind....

The Saturday we did our family photo shoot (the weekend before Thanksgiving) was the annual tree lighting at Gateway Shopping Center in Gainesville. Although we arrived a little too late for the actual tree lighting, we did get to visit with Santa and the Mrs.

Dan was all about it; Belle not so much.
She stood back this time around. Hopefully, when we go to the mall in a few weeks, she'll come around, but if not, that's okay, too. We don't want any traumatic Santa experiences, that's for sure.



Merry, Merry!

The elves were there showing off their balloon making skills. Belle was thrilled with this "microphone" (I think it was supposed to be a wand), and Dan loved his sword! What's with elves making balloons into swords- hey!?! (Wands to girls, swords to boys- they were somewhat "limited" elves- no Hermies in this bunch, that's for sure)

Pre-Tree lighting, and the reason we missed the actual tree lighting, was for good reason! On the way home from our photo shoot, we had to stop by Dollar Tree to fill up on goodies for our Operation Christmas Tree boxes, which were due at church that Sunday. I could have shopped myself earlier in the week, but I really wanted Daniel and Anabella to participate this year, hoping to instill some good Christmas values while their still young.

They were cute at Dollar Tree roaming the aisles in search of goodies suitable for a 2-4 year old boy and girl.  Belle picked crayons (of course), a Barbie, a pink ball, some bubbles, a jump rope, and a puzzle, among other things.

They each picked 10 gifts, including a toothbrush.  I already had coloring books and a few other trinkets at home.  Turns out, we had so much it didn't all fit into the boxes,  but we stuffed them as full as we could, and I packed away the rest for next year.

Daniel naturally picked what he's drawn to these days- those little superhero type men. Only we weren't supposed to send anything "war related" and since some of them had guns or swords (or looked a little scary), we had to guide him towards some more appropriate boy toys. He's so funny- at my suggestion of a dinosaur, his reply was, "But I don't like dinosaurs!" That boy!  He ended up with some cars, a jump rope, a football, and some Play doh, among other things.

While I don't have any pictures of our trip to the store, I do have some cute ones of them helping to carry the boxes to the front door (after they helped me stuff them as full as possible). And, after I wrapped the boxes (next year I hope we're in church that first Sunday before all the "pre-wrapped" boxes are gone).

We paid our shipping online so that we can track our boxes to the country where a 2-4 year boy and girl will open them and smile knowing they were lovingly prepared by two little cuties all the way in Gainesville, Virginia.

 



While the box wasn't really that heavy, I love the "team effort" here and the precision Anabella is using in very carefully placing it by the front door just like I told them. 

By the time I got the second box wrapped, I'd lost one helper. But, Anabella, who was now dressed and ready to go, came back to assist me with the second box.

Excited to see where our boxes end up and happy to have started what will hopefully be a new Christmas tradition. And, most of all, thankful that we had the opportunity to share our blessings and God's love with two children who will open our boxes and experience some real joy this Christmas!