There has been nothing on the schedule since lunch on Thanksgiving and it has been nice. Lounging around. We have watched way too many movies this weekend. I decided to do Christmas stuff differently this year. I put up all the decorations Friday after the boys were in bed and then saved the tree and decorating the tree for Sunday. The boys have had a ball playing with their nativity sets. They each have one and I love to hear them playing with them. We pulled out all the Santa hats, my boys really love them although we don't really have Santa around the house. Jbird informed me that I look much better in a Santa hat. (Not sure how to take that one). JR went out and got the tree this morning. Made me a little nervous because his idea of cutting down your tree, is pulling up, getting out and finding a tree within the first 20 yards. As long as it is green, it qualifies as a tree. I made him promise to not cut down the first tree he found. He was gone a couple of hours and he did good. Probably the fullest tree we have had. The boys had a great time looking at all their ornaments. Each year they get a 'yearly' ornament from Granny with a current picture and then each year I take the boys to purchase an ornament. Here is a picture of the finished product.......

Yes, our tree is leaning, because it took less than 2 hours for the older 2 to knock it over. (Still need to get it straight) On the way home from church today, anticipating getting the tree up, Jbird asked why they can't hide behind the tree because it is the best hiding spot. We had a long talk about getting behind the tree. I see my words fell on deaf ears. At least I had a quiet evening as the boys were stuck upstairs until bedtime!

We also made gingerbread houses. I bought this year a mini village thinking it would be cool if the boys could have their own houses to decorate. Uuuggghhh. Trying to cut the pieces apart and then glue them together. I think going forward I will stick to the one big house and they each decorate a side! Here are some pictures........
(Notice snaggle tooth B. He can now appropriately sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth....")



I love it when circumstances are such that they provide real life learning. The boys are doing chores and they have a little bit of spending money. Last week, due to a Red Box malfunction, we were given some codes for free movies. The boys wanted some movies, so Jbird opted to get one at the library and B wanted a movie from Red Box. We headed to Red Box and Benjamin has learned his way around those machines, so before I knew it, he had pulled up a Pirates of the Carribean Wii game. He was so excited it was available and asked if he could rent it. Without thinking, I said sure but he would pay me $2 when we got home. Okay fine he said. He got the game and as we were driving off, Jbird reminded all of us that B is grounded from the Wii. Oh, he was upset. He wanted to take it back but I told him too late, we were already charged for it. It was a great opportunity to talk about impulse buying. He was so excited when he saw it was available, he did not think things through. Now I will forever have something to refer back to that he will get.

JR got a deer Thanksgiving morning. After hiking 20 plus miles this hunting season, he went to a friend's land and was basically able to drive around until they saw the deer. It was a small buck. Meat for the freezer.