I am positively itching to get my Christmas Decorations up by December 1st!
There is just something about the Christmas music in shops and the cheerful decorations everywhere you look that makes my heart happy.
Thankfully I have managed to pass this excitement onto my children as I actually live with the Christmas Grinch! Normally when couples have children the excitement of Christmas comes back, but with my hubby he worries more about how much this Christmas is costing and can't seem to find the joy in the holiday anymore :( Plus he is a man that really hates crowds, so Christmas shopping for him is like some kind of torture!
We are trying really hard to bring our children up knowing that the excitement of getting presents from Santa is secondary to the real reason for the holiday - It being Jesus's birthday.
As a Christian I have really struggled with whether I should even let my children believe in the jolly red man, but as a parent I just want them both to have that innocence as long as possible.
In a few more years I will follow the example of a lovely friend of mine and we will tell them the real story about the original Father Christmas and how he was the reason the story of Santa exists today.
In the meantime I am getting as much mileage out of Santa as I can :)
Besides, the other day I overheard my little guy asking his big sister if Santa is real - and her answer was 'Of course he is! We know God is real and we can't see him either'.
Love my munchkins so much!
So in celebration of the time of the year, when the weather is abnormally hot and my children are asking why it doesn't snow here at Christmas time like it does at Mickey Mouses' house.
Here are some pictures of December in our house so far this year.
And don't worry, I will get to the school stuff in another post.....
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| The Christmas Tree complete with our new Angel from the Op Shop :) |
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| Anthony's Advent Calendar - Day No. 1 and its a chocolate frog :) |
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| Samantha's Advent Calendar - same chocolate frog :) |
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| Our Family Activity Advent calendar - we started this tradition last year, it has things like making ornaments, family movie nights and driving to see Christmas lights underneath each number :) |
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| Early morning on the 1st. all ready for kids to wake up to in the morning :) |
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| Even the Dining room doesn't miss out! |
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| Off to see Santa at Smith and Caughey in Auckland City. This is our 5th year in a row and has become one of our family Christmas traditions :) |
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| The Enchanted forest on the way to Santa's House. |
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| Sorry no actual Santa photo until I scan it onto the computer. I wasn't willing to pay and extra $10 to get it emailed! |
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| The store windows outside Smith and Caughey, we read the story of Grandma's Kiwi Christmas - was gorgeous :) |
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| Home with our presents from Santa, another new ornament for the tree - we love these :) |
Sterryn xx
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