It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

OK...so on the way back from Atlanta we got to watch a little tv (planes are amazing things). Noah, he watched Man vs. Wild and Dirty Jobs (he' loves those, plus Myth Busters, Survivorman and How It's Made)... Kaylee watched Deal or No Deal...I flipped around quite a bit when my tv was working (it was out for about half the flight), but Steve and I both caught a bit of Christmas with the Kranks, which motivated us to get back and go ahead with Christmas decorations! So...Friday - up went the lights and wreaths...and Saturday we were off to find the Unwin family tree (cue angels singing). We went to a tree farm in Oregon (did you know they have trees here? actually it's the largest Christmas tree producing state, just in case you were wondering) - actually we passed about 30 tree farms on our way to "the" tree farm. We did the classic of looking at trees from every angle and scrutinizing every inch to make sure it wasn't dead, losing needles, had gaping holes - you know the drill. Now, I have a tendency to pick a tree that is too big, so I really wanted to be sure to get it right, so we didn't have to cut half the tree off and leave it outside in the recycle bin (ask Steve - we did that one year when I picked a tree that was so big, it literally looked square by the time we trimmed off the top and bottom to make it fit). But...low and behold we succeeded! A family tree that really is our favorite family tree yet. So...we still have physical preparations to make - finding more Christmas deocrations to unpack, pulling out Christmas dishes, make pierogies, bake, listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies...but then we get to my favorite parts of Christmas...setting out the nativity sets, reading the Christmas story over and over and over, thinking about characters in the story and trying to put myself in their shoes and thanking God over and over for the gift of Jesus. Are you ready yet? I've still got a ways to go...but I can't wait!