It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

After a quiet Thanksgiving celebration at home (thank goodness for Thanksgiving dinner take out!), we took advantage of the long Thanksgiving break by pulling out the Christmas tree. We had finally purchased a new Christmas tree after using our last one for over a decade. Mama and her two little helpers got to work placing the pieces together and fluffing the branches.

As soon as the tree was put together, Rose and Kate happily hung ornament after ornament. They decorated nearly the entire bottom half of the tree all by themselves and would have done more, if only they could have reached.

Aria watched the girls, but didn't want to help when offered an ornament. She much preferred to observe.

As for the boys, they eventually pitched in and hung up a handful of ornaments that I had saved just for them.

Cole was being especially silly for the camera. Every time I tried to take his picture, he'd turn into quite the goof ball.

This year, Cole was nominated as the lucky one to put the star on top of the tree. Try as he may, he wasn't tall enough just yet to reach.  Maybe next year!

In keeping with the Christmas Spirit, Rose and Kate (with Mom's help) whipped up a batch of Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz Cookies. The perfect recipe for 2 little girls - spread peanut butter between two Ritz crackers and dip in chocolate. Super easy (although quite messy too!)

In the wee early morning of December 1st, our friendly elf (aptly named Elfy many years ago by Owen) appeared at our front door carrying a letter all the way from the North Pole from Santa himself! Rose was the first one to spot him and was so very excited to greet Elfy back into our home.

Soon everyone but Owen was well aware of Elfy's arrival and could not wait to hear what Santa had written in the letter. Unfortunately, they would need to be patient as Owen was already doing his Distance Learning calls with his teachers. It would be nearly 4 looooong hours before Owen had a break and could come retrieve Santa's letter from Elfy. The rest of the kids gathered around to hear what Santa had to tell them. The big guy in red made sure to remind the kids that while presents are fun,  Jesus is the real reason for the season.

The other exciting occurrence on the 1st of December was the opening of the chocolate Advent Calendars (a big THANK YOU to Great Popi Dineen for the calendars!). Everyone was able to follow along opening one little compartment each day (for the most part), except for Kate. She wasn't quite up to that challenge. The willpower of a 3 year old to resist chocolate is pretty much nonexistent.  She eagerly opened up each little door and happily gobbled up the chocolate goodies hiding inside. She nearly ate the entire month's worth of chocolate in just one day!

With the Christmas tree now up and decorated and our Elf friend sitting on the shelf, it's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!