Countdown to Christmas

We have only a couple of days left on our beach vacation and in my mind I have started to organize the list of things that need to be done for Christmas. 

Somehow I thought that the hard part of our trip would be going from this.........

via bountifulhome

to this....... OK, this much snow is an exaggeration for even us right now.

I managed to set up some of our Christmas preparations before we left two weeks ago. My Granddaughter was delighted to set up the Christmas tree with me and was amazed when all of the lights twinkled. 

We went with my Daughter and Son for our now traditional Santa visit with Baby Kya. Last year at only 7 months she thought the pom pom on Santa's hat was fascinating; this year nothing about Santa was fascinating. 

She cried her little heart out, Poor Santa, he must go home each night with a complex.

Grandma encouraging Kya to go and talk to Santa.

Important things are in order ..... like a little girls holiday dress and new party shoes. 

Kya's new party shoes...... she's ready for the holidays.

I know that when we get home I'll be taking the list, checking it more than twice and running at top speed to get things in order. 

The important things are that two weeks from now we will all be together enjoying our Christmas traditions.....midnight mass with Richard, opening the Santa stockings, sharing breakfast and a big dinner ......and every yummy nibble in between. There will be a bevy of picture taking to ensure that we have all of the memories of the day catalogued to share with each other.

via beautyandthebudget

I will be watching Sande at A Gift Wrapped Life over the next week to help me with some creative ways to put the finishing touches on on Christmas packages. Her creativity and gift idea's are inspirational. Not to be missed is Sande's selection of 'Objects of Desire', there are some great gift idea's there.

via A Gift Wrapped Life

I love the bustle of the holiday season, the twinkle of the lights and the pretty things in the stores. But more than anything, I love that everything we do together as a family sets yet another page in our memory books, and builds another tradition as a family.