Odds and Ends....

Today has been a good Sunday. When I can keep the TV time to a minimum, we are always better off (I'm sure my kids won't agree....) During dinner, we had a discussion about ways we can keep the "true spirit of Christmas" through the month of December. I'm not sure my kids understand the value of service or giving (and not receiving in return), but maybe this year, we can show them a bit of what it's about. We usually make a Christmas Eve run to the Dollar Store where the kids get to buy one gift for each member of the family. We've decided this year that we will draw names and make a present (homemade) for our partner. Hopefully this works out well. We've also talked about doing a Secret Santa or 12 Days or Christmas for a family in need. We'll fine tune that plan over the next week or so....

We got our christmas tree up yesterday... it's not fully decorated, but hey, I don't know why I care... Brayden has already rearranged the bottom half of the tree.... by Christmas it's going to be a total mess, but oh well. Maybe this will be the last year he messes with it.

Tonight Ian was singing along with a kids CD to Jingle Bells... it was so cute... he was singing, "Jingle Bells... Jingle Bells... Jingle all the way.... oh what fun it is to sing a "silly" song tonight"... it was so cute (silly should have been "sleighing")!

Brayden has really come out with some cute words lately... we call his jibberish "Ewok talk". He jibbers so quick in a foreign language, I don't usually make an effort to understand it. Over the weekend he's come out with some very clear and understandable words, like "chocolate, tacos, meat, cookie...." That's all I can remember right now, but it's been entertaining this weekend to see what he'll say next!

One thing I've really missed living here in AZ is our fireplace... in CA I was notorious for stinking up the house with a good rip roaring fire. (Eric always hated the smell...) Our house here doesn't have a fire place.... which caused me a lot of grief when I first tried to find a place to hang stockings... anyway, I've drooled over those fake fireplaces that you can install against a wall, but in reality it's a lot of money to spend just for "ambiance"... then I found the solution... we walked into Sam's Club last week and they had a TV playing with a fireplace scene running on it... it was awesome! It even has the realistic fireplace noises that you can play or mute. There are 8 scenes to choose from and I love it! Today I put it on the TV with some Christmas music and it totally made my afternoon! Best of all it was only $7 and it didn't stink up the house or get us too hot! I LOVE IT!