Less than 1 month!  This is my most favorite time of the year....Christmas!  I wish I could stop working for the month of December and just fill the month with "Christmasy" things.  Baking, watching every Christmas movie I own (which right now is about 15), stringing popcorn and cranberry garlands with the kids for the tree, making some handmade gifts and ornaments - and the list goes on.  But alas, it is not possible.  So I continue to try to make the best of my time that I can.  Sheesh though - it's so busy!  I seem to start the season with so many plans and never get around to most of them.  I have however, managed to be the first one on my block to get my tree up this year!  Yay me!  It seems that a few years ago I set a precedent on our bay in getting my tree up first and since then it's kind of been a competition.  I lost last year and told myself I had to take back the championship....so I did :D  Sorry neighbors. 

The other thing that I managed to get done this year (although maybe a little late for most people) was our family photo.  Most of us like to do it when it's nice outside.  But not me, I like to torture my family and make them stand outside in the cold, without jackets, and smile as if it's normal to be doing it!  They were such troopers and cooperated so good!  I'm so proud....and love the result!

They were so good - I agreed to do some silly ones......

So now that the major things are completed, we move along to the shopping, and the multitude of Christmas parties.  While I can't wait for it to get here - I want to savour every moment too.  Our goal this year is to have all the shopping done no later than the week before Christmas.  I want to spend the week before Christmas relaxing and spending time with my family.  So good luck to everyone in the same situation - have fun and I hope you all meet your goals too - Christmas will come whether we are ready or not.....and I intend to be ready and waiting when it does!

So a couple of weeks ago we had our Operation Christmas Child kick-off at church for sending Shoeboxes away to children in places like Haiti, Nicaragua and Costa Rica just to name a few.  I have always heard of doing this but I wasn't entirely sure how to go about it until this year.  So we went and took 6 shoeboxes (one for each member of our family) and committed to filling them within 3 weeks to send out.  Since then we have seen a couple of videos with testimonies from a couple of people who received a shoebox when they were younger and the impact that it had on their lives.  They are stories that tug on your heartstrings for sure but I find myself wondering if these stories are an exception to the norm.  Do most kids view it and experience it as an exciting event that puts a big smile on their face (like our Christmas)? or do many of the kids have life changing moments because of what they received?  Either way I truly believe that the six children receiving our boxes have already been chosen and there's a part of me that wishes I (and my boys) could be there the moment they receive their box.  I would love to see the excitement and the smiles that it might bring.  While I know I won't be able to be there I just continue to think about what we have done on our end - and as we finish filling our boxes (with nothing that I myself view as anything spectacular), and placing a photo of our family along inside, I just hope that when that child opens their box there is something in there that they've been waiting and praying for that changes their lives in a special way.

Here's the start of our boxes!