Deck the Halls

I love that the kids get so excited to set up the Christmas decorations. They love to don their Santa hats and get to work. Myles preferred doing the work in his diaper. At one point, he must have thought the tree gathered too much dust over the last year and helped make it shine. :)

I bought an early Christmas gift for myself/the family. I remember growing up and my mom would place an empty manger somewhere in our home with a small bundle of straw for us to fill the manger. We could only place a piece of straw in the manger by doing a kind deed(s). I decided I wanted to try something like this in our home. I finally found a manger that I loved and told the kids about the purpose of preparing the manger before Jesus is born on Christmas Day. I explained that only by secret, kind deeds could we fill the manger for Jesus. They loved it and are so excited to add straw to the manger. We're only a few days in, but so far, I would call it a success due to simply helping us focus a little more on the true reason for the season.