Tis the Season...

Christmas is my favorite time of year. It always causes me to reflect and judge whether Santa would think I had been naughty or nice. Hmmm....

Now that I have children I feel more passionate about making the holiday season mean something more than just presents and good food. I want them to understand that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and how truly incredible this is. I wonder if I even realize how amazing this is and how blessed we are to be able to celebrate Him.

So I am struggling with how to start new, special traditions that reflect family time and learning about Christ. Those are my 2 priorities. My sister and I talked about making it a point to email each other scripture every day and sharing how it touched our hearts. Perhaps this season will grow my faith more than ever thanks to the inspiration from my babies and family. I love the idea of the advent calendar where you can incorporate family activities like reading a story together, watching a movie, baking together, reading scripture, writing a heartfelt note to your family, playing a game, etc. I am trying to come up with ideas so pass yours along!

We've already gotten to do our first Christmas tradition and it was SO fun! The weekend after Thanksgiving we meet up with my sister and her kids and drive to Bellville to the Christmas Tree Farm while listening to Christmas music. We actually cut down our very own tree! It is so fun walking up and down the rows of fresh trees looking for the perfect tree for our house. Then we proceed to take a million pictures of "the one" and then the sawing begins...yes, you actually use a saw and cut it down youself. This year we decided we were going to buy a pretty fir tree for our main tree and cut down a small tree for the kids. We take pictures with Mrs. Claus and have lunch afterwards. It's a full day devoted just to our Christmas tree. What fun! Here's a few pictures from the tree farm.

How about this one?...too big!

I think this is the one!

Final decision

Saw it down! Lexie is good at giving orders...

How cute is this!? Lexie's trying to drag the tree to the trailer.

I'm bored...can't I just play in the dirt?

The Albright clan...we love you guys and have so much fun doing this together!