It's Beginning....

*It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas* The pure magic of the season is upon us. Where every song on the radio and every twinkle from the lights around bring tears to my eyes. I am a sap I get very caught up in the magic of the season, and there is no one better to share it with than my husband and kids!
We began the magic of the season decorating the house about a week before Thanksgiving. Dylan is very much into Christmas this year and so far mostly the decor. He LOVES the lights and as soon as he spotted some on our drive here and there, well he wanted ours up too! I love the twinkling of the lights so I was more than happy to bring them out a little early. We put white lights on the deck and garland around the sliding glass door going out to the deck and strung garland in the living room around the TV and of course the stockings are hung to!
Last Friday night we bundled up and ventured to Christmas in the Park in downtown Marion. The park was filled with families and kids all excited to share in the joy of the season. We saw the reindeer and spotted Santa and Mrs. Claus in their little cabin. So we quick got in line to see Santa! We witnessed the Peace Tree lighting and the kids loved seeing the big 'ta-da' moment when the lights went on!

There were carolers over by the Train and hot chocolate in the gazebo and the Shriners had their stand with yummy Kettle Corn, there were even carriage rides, it was a fun filled family event!

 The line to see Santa and Mrs. Claus was LONG, but Dylan really wanted to see Santa so we hopped right in and waited. The families in front of us and behind us, both had a boy and a girl our kiddo's ages. We waited and waited and the kids took turns sitting in the stroller and cuddling under the blankets. I checked the temp on my phone and yep it was a balmy 21 degrees, BURR! But we weathered thru, while watching parents leave with kids in tears because they were so cold. We were bundled and kept checking the kids and they were warm to the touch. As the line curved up 7th ave and we arrived there Dylan started saying he was cold. But ah, we were SO close to Santa, within probably 20 minutes away from our turn. So we waited and waited and eyed the super fun toy store across the street and had our game planned out of how this Santa thing was going to go down. We huddled Dylan in the stroller yet again with the blankets and just as we were about 7 kids away from seeing Santa, (YES I counted!) I looked down and Dylan, well he was fast asleep! AHHHH! I took him out of the stroller and tried to stand him up, 'Dylan Dylan its just about your turn to see Santa', 'DYYYLLAAN' I was trying to get him to stand up, nope nothing, he nearly fell right over the kid was zonked OUT! I looked at Brad and he looked at me, we both admitted we were cold, many parents with crying, cold kids had bailed out of line long ago and at this point and just as we were about to the door to see the big old man and mrs. in red, we too bailed out with a sleeping child and one curled into her daddy's neck trying to stay warm. This point had been one and a half hours later, our turn was nearly up to see Santa and we bailed! Now thinking, I wish we would have stayed in line just thru those last few kids, put Danielle on Santa's lap and took a picture of a sleeping Dylan with Santa in the stroller. Oh well, there's always next year. This was one trip to see Santa for the memory books!

 This is just how close we were!! And one very tired little boy!

We headed for the car, turned the heat on high and headed out to get our Christmas tree! We went for another real tree this year but because the weather forecast for the weekend was nothing but rain, we opted for one that was already cut down. It was nearly 8 foot tall, opps! I tend to think they look smaller in person than they really are, so needless to say we had to do some cutting off the bottom, it was cut down to our size and it came home with us that night! The next morning the living room was cleared, the tree had a home, the lights were strung and the ornaments were hung! There is nothing more magical than sitting all cozied up and staring at a beautiful twinkling Christmas tree! It just never gets old!

Another Holiday favorite for us is count down the days of Christmas with the Advent Calendar! This year we have 2 calendars, one more traditional where we move the candy cane to each date pocket until we get to Christmas and the other is I think Dylan's favorite this year....behind each date door is a piece of chocolate! YUM! He is very giddy every single morning to rush to the calendar, search thru the picture for the days correct date number and quickly peel back the door holding that taste of delicious! And a punishment if he has been naughty, well the chocolate has to wait until after school! 6 days down and that has only happened 1 time, trust me I bet the last time too because there were big alligator tears when he had to wait 10 hours to taste the delicious today ;-)

Licking his lips because he can already taste the delicious! I love him so!

 Ahh yes, the prize behind the door!

We love the magic the season brings. The times spent with family and friends. The memories that are made. The goodies we taste. So much fun to be had and special times ahead this Holiday Season!