It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Yes, I know it's only mid-November, but it's no secret we've been Christmasing in the Harrison Household since November 1 (and quite possibly even before that). But our decorations went up November 2nd. The tree is up. Let's just say this year, we let the kids decorate again! We aren't done with ornaments, but my plan this year is to have the kids make homemade ornaments each week and put them as the tree as we go. We do have a few up, but it looks much better in person than it does in the photo. We had to buy new lights from Target and decided to go for the new LED lights! They are mini lights with colored covers over them, which is neat! It reminds me of the glass multicolored bulbs my Mamaw had in the 80s with the huge bulbs that got so hot! Well these are really nice because they can last forever and they are cool to the touch. Plus, just a few go a long way because the bulbs are big.

Also, I've got my mantle decorated as well! I've pulled out all my favorite decorations and this year, they won't all fit on the mantle! We also have adopted an Elf on the Shelf this year, and the kids named her Candie. So far she's mostly been hiding in different spots and hasn't done too much crazy yet. She's been found reading a book, "fishing" for the Christmas singing bass on the mantle (so redneck, I love that, lol!) and hanging from the ceiling fans. Oh, there was the time she drew with lipstick on the kids faces but I was clear that I wasn't crazy about that, so she toned it down after that! Haha!

This weekend I hope to finish my Christmas Village on the island in the kitchen, I don't know what I will do as far as decorating in the kitchen otherwise though.

Also, we've been thinking and coming up with some great Christmas traditions. One of which, thanks to my good friend, will be the Christmas Countdown Calender. It's got 25 pockets and each pocket is going to have a special treat, which the kids will have to compete for behavior wise. At the end of the day, the best behaved all around kid gets to choose something from one of the pouches.

Also, something I am very excited about this year new is a book tradition. I've been collecting new and like new books (so far I have 2 brand new Skippy Jon Jones books I got on clearance at Kohls, and a nearly new Little Engine that Could book. ) I need 22 more. Can you guess what I'm doing? I'm going get a total of 25 books and starting November 30th (same day we start the Christmas Countdown) I will have them all wrapped under the tree with a special Christmas blanket in a basket. Each night I will allow the kids to choose one of the books under the tree to unwrap and we will read it together by the tree! Isn't that a great tradition!! I plan on getting some new, but also I'm going to be looking all year round for next year at yard sales or the Good will bookstore for perfect condition hard cover children's books that will build a nice collection for us.

Ok, so now that you know what  we are doing for the Holidays, I have to catch you up on the last several months. We've been so busy with school, church, and everything in between and I don't feel like I've had a chance to catch my breath till just now! We have celebrated three birthdays, Halloween, and Thanksgiving is next week. My sister got married and now we know she is expecting a little boy this spring! I cannot wait!! We are still working with Josh teaching him to read and are slowly but surely making progress. Both the older kids are doing awesome in math, and we have gotten involved again not only with our church small group but with serving in our church. Jacob and I both help with Awana and Jacob is helping with the 4-6 grade boys on Sunday mornings.

We have had some crazy life stuff thrown at us over the last few months, but God has used it to remind us that he is in control and he will provide (and that's all I'm gonna say about that!) for us. Jacob got a position at a new branch 10 minutes from our house, and he's home an extra 3 hours every day! We get to have breakfast and dinner together every night, and have been able to make more commitments. I started keeping Greyson again during the week, which I LOVE, and he is such a sweetie.  Jonah is doing so much better, although he is not perfect, with learning to mind and not being quite so naughty. God has given me more patience to deal with him as well. So no, for us things are not perfect and we are dealing with some things, but we are so thankful for the things that God is blessing us with. I don't feel like we are still wandering in the desert any more, so I am thankful for that.

I have some more posts I plan on doing soon, because there's so much more things I want to share with you, so plan on seeing more blog posts here on out. God bless ya and have a great week!