It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I must admit, I wrinkled my nose up at our local radio station that began playing CHRISTMAS music on Halloween. HALLOWEEN! And I wrinkled it yet again when another radio station began playing their non-stop Christmas tunes the very next day.

With that said, if you went out to my van right now, take one guess what music would blare out at you when you turned the ignition...."Here Comes Santa Claus". I caved. And I'm loving it.

We put together our "Operation Christmas Child" boxes again this year. I took Reese with me to help pick out the goodies. She had me explain to her no less than 12 times why we were buying gifts for other children. "Tell me again Mommy...." she'd implore.

So I patiently went over the reasons again and again, how some children wouldn't be getting any gifts for Christmas this year. I thought it had almost sunk in, when she asked. "So, do they live in a place where Santa can't go?".

Uh oh.

Of course I managed to stammer out something about how we were being his helpers and sending the gifts through the mail and Jesus is the real reason for the season. Yikes! Close one.

We had a fun time gathering our items then headed home to get them wrapped (which we still haven't done but the deadline is Wednesday).

Immediately Drue was drawn to our tempting stash as Reese separated out each and every gift to the appropriate box. Drue snatched up a little baby doll and cradled it to her chest saying, "I wanted this!". I started my explanation about how these things were for children who didn't have any Christmas presents. To which she quickly protested, "But I don't have any Christmas presents." True statement, hard to argue with, she didn't get to keep the doll.

David surprised me and took me out on a date Saturday night. We went to dinner, then headed to the movies, discovering there was nothing out we wanted to see. So...much to his chagrin, we started our Christmas shopping! I am the biggest procrastinator so it felt a little foreign to begin this process before December 23rd. Our plan is to get a little bit each week, and hopefully wrap and label along the way.

We got most of the stocking stuffers that night. The bright side is the kids haven't found our hiding spot yet. The not so bright side is...the dogs did. I was feeling a bit Scroogish when I discovered an empty chocolate Santa package and empty bag of mini candy bars strewn about our back lawn this afternoon.

So much for planning ahead...