What a busy week we have had!  It all culminated in a Santa Breakfast on Saturday at Tatie’s school where she sang in her choir Christmas concert.  Tatie had been talking for weeks about their “12 Days of Christmas” song and how she couldn’t wait for me to see it.  Because of traffic and a sped up schedule I only caught her singing the last phrase of  it the night previous when her choir sang at the “Light up LaGrange” ceremony.  (I was parking and they started 10 minutes early! Not cool)  So I was really glad to get it on tape the next morning.  And you HAVE to watch it!  It is fantastic!  Pay special attention to our fantastic choir director for the last few verses.  It is sure to make you laugh.

Password: Tatie

After the Santa Breakfast we went home to decorate the house in some holiday cheer.  And after rearranging the living room no less than 4 times we finally settled on a spot for our tree.  It looks the same every year, I know, but I think its especially festive now with the fireplace and the stockings beside it.  😀

My favorite new decoration this year is the addition of a Christmas flag…

Is it a flag?  NO its a candy cane!  Don’t you love it!  I do!  I have been trying to figure out what to do with that rogue out door candy cane for years now; the kids wouldn’t let me throw it away.  And now I am glad I didn’t because I LOVE it as our Christmas flag!

And I am very blessed this year to have already had a Christmas moment that will become a story I tell for years to come.  Every year the kids love setting up the manger scene (painted by my Mom) on the piano.  And over the years they have staked claim on the Wise men.  Each of them claiming a color for their own.  Kinsey is the blue Wise man, Sydney the Red, and Tatie the green.  After they set up the manger scene I heard Tatie grumble about how unhappy she was that her Wise man was stuck in the back.  I didn’t think much about it until later that night when I was sitting on the couch admiring the lit tree and turned to look at the manger scene behind me.  And this is what I saw…

I was tickled at first and then as I thought about this simple act I misted up.  How special it is that my baby girl longed have her Wiseman be close to the baby Jesus.  I pray that she will want to be in that spot all her life. 

I decreed that no one was to “fix” the manger scene for the rest of the season.  Because it is perfect just the way it is.