Christmas is Coming!

Christmas preparations are in full swing!
This is sort of related, but I got to do a little 5k along the trail of lights last Saturday and it was pretty awesome. Definitely not a course for a PR (too many people, narrow trail, super dark), but it was super fun! I also ran 3 miles that morning just to make sure my legs were in working order and I jogged a couple of miles to and from the race, so it was a runny sort of day, but it was really fun. And I might have left my bib at home in all the craziness of leaving on time, but that didn't matter because with 8,000 other people no one noticed that I didn't have a number.
This is totally not related, but I was also able to run an 8k on Thanksgiving, which was really fun. There were 23,000 people registered for that race, and that was crazy! I'm excited to be getting back into running though, and I'm planning to do a 25K trail run in April. We'll see if I survive that.

Anyway, the decorations are up, and Emily is in heaven. Here is a little corner of our living room.

The rest of the room is even better... I just couldn't find any other pictures.
Joseph and I were discussing our tree tonight though, and I've decided it's really kiddy. I wonder if it will grow up as the kids get older.

I decided to make some bags as Christmas gifts this year. I received the fabric on the 17th (and it's awesome!).

It's a cotton-linen blend fabric by Echino. It's a little crazy, but bags can be crazy, right? Caleb took the picture, by the way.
I was up way too late on Monday night, putting the bags together. Let me just tell you, 6 straight hours of Disney channel is just too much. Why didn't I just put a movie on? I was excited to have the packages out in the mail by Tuesday, so hopefully they will arrive by Christmas.

Joseph doesn't like gingerbread, so he puts together a sugar cookie house every Christmas. We did this for Family Home Evening on Monday and Tuesday (Em's 7:00 bedtime makes FHE pretty tricky).

Here they are hard at work. Do you see Elinor's little face down there?

The finished product.

Joseph's paisley wall. I mostly used this picture because of Elinor's face.

Caleb's turn.

I like this picture because it makes our family look so calm and under control.

And here is a picture of Joseph as SuperDad and of Caleb ready to swing. Doesn't he look so natural with a plastic baseball bat over his shoulder? The real reason I posted this picture is to show you our weather. It was hot today! I was feeling a little uncomfortable today and even considered turning the AC on! Whenever I left the door opened wasps would fly in but isn't it the end of December? Why are they still around? Why was it 82 degrees today?

Anyway, we do love Christmas. We have been trying to talk to the kids - especially Emily - about the reason we have Christmas and how giving gifts and service can bring a special kind of joy that receiving presents doesn't. It's a special time of year, and I am loving being able to spend it with my little family!