It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Tis the Season!!! It's been a fun week decorating the house, trimming the tree, singing Christmas carols, setting up the manger scene, and talking about Jesus' birthday.   It's also been cool enough for us to light the fire and snuggle up on the couch at night to watch Christmas movies before bedtime...and have some hot chocolate with marshmallows of course!

Atticus has loved pulling out all his"christmasy" pajamas - he told me that he wanted to dress up like Santa for Halloween next year.... hmmmm, we'll see about that. 

Look who came to visit us again this year....BUDDY the Elf!  Atticus was so excited when he showed up in his room this week :)  I wasn't sure if he'd remember Buddy from last year, but he did!  We read the story of "Elf on the Shelf" to him and let him give him a big hug before bed.   

So far, we've found Buddy in a different spot each morning....he hasn't gotten into too much mischief yet, but we're keeping a close eye on him and he's doing the same with us...making sure we're playing nice, obeying the first time, and helping around the house with our chores.  We found Buddy the first day hanging out in Atticus' bathroom...he had his tooth brush in hand, ready to clean his sparkly whites!  It was a good reminder for Atticus too!

The next day it appeared that Buddy had met Bob (the fish).  He was sitting on his tank with a fishing pole...good thing we found him in time!!!!  That could have been bad news for Bob!  We took this opportunity to share with Buddy that Bob is our friend and we don't eat our friends :)

And what could be more fun then playing dress up on the Christmas aisle at Target, it is after all our favorite store!!!  Atticus couldn't decide if he wanted to be and elf, reindeer, or Santa himself...so we had to try them all on!  Which you do like the best???

Atticus helped decorate the tree in his room this year.  We collected all his little stuffed animals and used them as ornaments...and who better to top off the tree than Sock Monkey!!!!  

 We took Atticus to see Santa...He wasn't nervous at all, walked right up and hopped on his lap (I think he knew he was getting a treat out of it).  He and Santa shared a few sweet minutes together discussing the items on his wish list...which turns out only includes a yo-yo and some cars...I think "Santa" can totally handle that!

 This was the same Santa we saw last year.  I love that he has a REAL beard and that he wears the more classic, vintage vest and jacket, rather than the typical red suit with black belt and FAKE beard...

 It's amazing how fast they grow!!!  Check out these pictures from all of Atticus' Santa pictures. 

 These two boys were having so much fun waiting in line...and how adorable are they dressed like twins???  And it wasn't even my idea!!!

 It's been a holly jolly start to the season...more decoration pictures, and a few family traditions that will start on December 1st so I'll post more about those in the coming days.  Wishing you and your loved ones a truly blessed CHRISTmas season!!!