Decorating for Christmas

It was like Christmas BEFORE Christmas when we went to put up our Christmas decorations last Friday and Saturday! We hadn't seen our Christmas decorations in 3 years, so it was such a treat to "find" them again...all wrapped up good and only one broken ornament (which I think was broken before the move anyway)! So, all was good. Combined with our 5 trees that we purchased in Okinawa (don't ask why we have 5 trees) and four new 230V strings of Christmas lights, we are officially ready for the Christmas holidays! Here are a few pictures from our days of getting ready for "Jesus' Birthday!"



Jackson found the Santa hat in the collection of boxes. Here's our little Santa Claus!


This year, we have started some new Christmas season traditions, one of which is preparing the stable for Jesus! With a magnetic advent set, Jackson is placing one piece of the stable on the refrigerator every night before going to bed. There are 24 pieces and then, he will place baby Jesus in the stable on Christmas morning. I thought it was such a clever idea when I saw it and Jackson seems to understand what he is doing. Today, he said to me, "Jesus' Birthday" as he held up the stable. At least he's making somewhat of a connection and is beginning to learn what Christmas is all about.