Decorating our CHRISTmas pine

On thanksgiving weekend, our tradition is to decorate our pine tree to remember Jesus coming down from heaven for us, celebrated on Christmas. This year we decorated before turkey-day because our special guest, Grandma, was visiting a bit earlier.

Here's baby Jesus from our nativity scene

"Je(s)us!" says our little one.
Our tradition starts with a story about the First Christmas, our saviors birth, and ends with cocoa as we watch our claymation video of the First Christmas.

Grandma is reading "The REAL night before Christmas", a book she gave us.

Next is a book with Christmas stockings that can be filled.

Our tree is a hodge podge of a variety of ornaments. We decorate our tree with ornaments given to us over the years and a simple prayer for the giver of the ornament. It's a great way to reflect back on the people that have blessed us by being a part of our lives, even if just for a season.

The evening ends with Aunt Sammie's arrival. By this time, grandma and the boys are singing CHRISTmas carols...and Aunt Sam joins in too (she even keeps the beat with her dancing feet!). That video of the four of them is for "their eyes only".

Here are the boys though:

We've always loved this season of remembering Jesus' first coming...so it's a pleasure to start a few days early!