Christmas Comes Early This Year

Yesterday was the end of the pheasant hunt. You know what that means. My Christmas tree is up! Okay, so that's not really the annual date of the Sandoval home Christmas transformation. In reality, I'm usually not allowed to bust out our million boxes full of cheer and incredible smells until after Thanksgiving. But this year when two husbands decided to leave for close to 18 hours of pheasant hunting, Jessica and I got to work.

You wouldn't think that babies are a factor in Christmas decorating. But really, how can you think of much else when they are both grumpy and that means all the screams? We were determined to tackle the task at hand, so someone (not naming any names, but I wouldn't blame Jessica) came up with the idea...give the babies a strand of lights! It maybe wasn't our finest mommy moment. Mother-of-the-year badges will not be handed out anytime soon, but I, for one, am not ashamed. Both babies were closely supervised, although there may have been scattered moments of sucking on Christmas bulbs. Approved or not, it was a total hit. We strung lights all over their floor toys and they couldn't get enough. There's little else that is as perfect as chubby fingers reaching for magic.

With everything life has dished us over the past few months, I definitely felt cheated out of a summer. I wasn't about to let that happen with the holiday season too! So the lights are up on the house (a new addition this year, and it's beautiful. Thank you husband and lots of neighbors for 4 hours of Christmas lights in polar temperatures! I'm told they are staying up all year...) The tree is up (yet to be decorated, but really, getting all those scratchy branches just right is the worst part!), garland, stockings and Christmas tidings are popping out of every corner in the house and I couldn't be happier!

So, while some may say, "Don't cheat Thanksgiving!" this year, I'm grateful for Christmas trees!