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We always start decorating for Christmas the weekend of Thanksgiving.  My thought has always been why wait until mid-December when its only going to be up for two or three weeks?  Its so pretty, and its so much work, lets enjoy it for a nice, long time. 

Andrew tackles the exterior illumation (this year having a few Clark Griswald moments) while I focus on decking the halls inside.  And every year, we get a few more things to make every holiday even shinier than the one before.  

Once Christmas comes and goes, I'm ready for it to come down and we often take it all down New Years Day.  By then, the needles are falling off the half dead tree and have been tracked from one end of the house to the other.    And its just nice to get things back to normal before we go back to the routine of school/work/life. 

Christmas is only 11 days away.  The presents are all wrapped, cookie baking is planned, and holiday cards have been sent.  Now is the time to really savor the magic and the spirit of the holiday.

And some of my favorite ornaments.  I really need to have the boys make more ornaments this year.  Handmade and/or with photos and years really are the best kind.  I am also realizing I need to create a few ornaments using the boys newborn baby photos, I don't have any of those.

When it all began...

And along came Bella, our training baby.

And two years later, Dylan arrived.

Merry Christmas 2011.