It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It took us an entire week to get our Christmas tree & decorations up! There's a whole assortment of reasons, including but not limited to: lack of patience, non-working lights, hauling boxes up & down the stairs, ...the list goes on. Regardless, it's finally done - and looks pretty decent!

Helping Daddy put together the tree:
The finished product!
I'm also going to take this opportunity to introduce you to Charlie, our "Elf on the Shelf". I don't know if everyone is familiar with these, so I'll give you a quick description... Last year, an Elf arrived at our house right after Thanksgiving...he came with a book that told all about him. He is an Elf from the North Pole who helps Santa keep an eye on the kids. He doesn't talk, he just watches and listens. Every night he flies back to Santa to give him a report, and by morning he is back at our house (usually in different places of our house). There are more details to the story, but I assume you get the drift. :) In my opinion, this is one of the best things EVER! The boys talk to him, and tell him what they want for Christmas! It's so cute!! He's also very helpful...When the boys are being naughty, all I have to say is "Charlie's watching" and they usually stop what their doing! :)
Now that the decorations are up...it's time to get serious about shopping!!! :)