Organized Chaos: Decoration Celebration

It's the time again. Christmas is within our grasp. I don't know whether to be excited or scared that I still have so much to do to get ready. But yesterday we got a pretty good start. It all started when we woke up to find out that our elf, Christopher, had come again a little earlier than last year. He left an M&M message for the kids and a letter and movie along with bringing back out his book.

Here's what the letter said :

Dear Ouren Kids,

As Santa and I were checking in on all the little boys and girls today, I noticed that you had started putting up your Christmas trees. Did I see that right? 2 trees this year? Well that got me so excited, that I asked Santa for permission to “pop-in” early and start our yearly hide and seek fun.

This morning when you get up, please read my story in the book so we can remember the rules. After that, I want to see you finish decorating that huge tree and the rest of your house. I also got hungry and checked in your fridge. Maybe you could have your mom bake up those cookies in there for a little snack while you decorate?

Christmas is my favorite time of year and I’m so excited for this one and all of the places I’ll find to hide in your new house. But remember, I also have a job to do. My job is to make sure you are being good until Christmas so Santa can put you on the good list. I’ve left you a little candy reminder of that message today. So Be Good as much as possible, it would be a shame if I had to report back bad behavior to Santa.

Here’s a reminder of my biggest rule. I can NOT be touched or I lose my magic and have to go back to the North Pole. It’s such a long trip there and back, I hope to not have to do it again this year. And the next is that you have to find me every single morning. Remember to search high and low.

So get to decorating and let’s have some fun,

Christopher Pop In Kins

P.S. Santa asked me to bring you a pre-Christmas gift. Once you are done with all of the decorating, I’ve brought a movie for you to watch. I know Sponge Bob is one of your favorites and I let Santa know that. I hope this is a good one and it makes you laugh. I do love to laugh too.

Mike had spent the later half of the evening setting up our 2 trees and getting them fluffed and ready for us to decorate, so we let the inside decorating begin right after some breakfast. They were all so excited again and lasted at least 20 minutes before they got bored and went to play something else, but hey I think that's a record.

Baby girl loved the tree. And kept taking the lower ornaments off all day to play with them. This light bulb garland was tangled up. So she took to playing with it...I wish she would have de-tangled it in the process. Oh well she was so happy to have it.

I think the real winner of the day was the 2 Santa hats. The kids played with these all day taking turns having them on.

Here are some of the results. The buffet in the dining room holds a collection of pictures from Christmas's past.

The stockings were hung on the mantle.

Since our big Christmas tree is in the back of the house now, we decided to get a small one for the front of the house that can be seen from the street. We also decided on a theme of 2 colors and went with black and silver. I think it needs a few pops of another color. But haven't figured out which one yet. It's a work in progress.

And here's the finished big one in the family room. It used to be such a giant in our other house. In this house it seems to be just the right size for that corner.