1 down, 4 to go

I have officially finished Ashley Kate's Christmas tree, and it looks amazing sitting in the corner of the therapy room. Its so sweet, so beautiful, so twinkly. It makes us both happy. Last night I walked in to find her turned toward it, watching all the sparkles, and smiling the tiniest of smiles. So glad I started with her tree first.

Its tradition in our home to have all trees up and decorated by November 1st. We choose not to acknowledge and absolutely not celebrate Halloween in any way in our family and so we take this time to prepare for what we all love so very much...Christmas. Its a wonderful way to ignore all the ugly and evil that surrounds this time of year. Anyway, its just what we do and what we love. I will not be here Thursday evening, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday(girls weekend and soccer tournament) so that leaves me today, tomorrow, and half of Thursday to finish the rest of the trees. Wow! I've got my work cut out for me. I'm so looking forward to walking in the house Sunday evening and being surrounded by the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas. What peace! It brings the most amazing sense of peace to our home when its done. The boys can't wait for it to be finished, but make no mistakes about it they don't do ANY of the decorating. One of Blake's favorite things to do is sit back and enjoy watching it take place. He loves the house when its full of the holidays. He doesn't love decorating and neither does Dave so us girls handle it with the happiest of hearts. Blake's friends think I'm crazy, but no worries they've been around enough years to just smile and shake their heads without actually voicing how insane his mom is. Makes me smile just thinking of the looks they've given me in the car the last week or so as the carols play. Oh, well...it makes us happy.

So today I hope to get the family room trees assembled and arranged. It requires some moving of the furniture and some muscle so I hope my mom knows what she's in for this afternoon. She's busy trying to get the sheers sewn and finished for the dining room windows(I've lived here for over a year and am just now finishing out the bay window and seating area). Things are busy around here and we like it that way. Allie has soccer practice every night this week for the three teams she's playing for right now and a tournament this weekend. She hit her head pretty hard during Saturday's game and is still not feeling well. We aren't sure she's actually going to make all those practices, but she's determined to play this weekend. The basketball list is being announced today too and so practice starts tomorrow. She is hoping to find her name on that list this morning even though I kept her home from school yesterday morning(didn't make the coach too happy when she showed up for the afternoon classes but she looked pretty bad yesterday morning so I kept her home against her wishes). Blake's tournaments keep getting cancelled due to the crazy weather and if he doesn't get to play soon I'm afraid we aren't going to be able to live with him! There are a lot of possibilities for this weekend so hopefully something will come through for him. My sisters are meeting me in Canton for their birthday weekend Thursday evening and we are all so excited about a weekend with just the three of us. I think thats about all that is happening around here. Maybe a few surprises thrown in here and there, but not much more.

Guess I should get started. The big tree is calling my name:) Not sure if Ash and I will be here to enjoy it for long so getting it all up as soon as possible is really important to me. I want to make sure its all ready for Dave and the kids. Have a great day.