36 Shopping Days til ...

From the title, you can tell I'm excited about the upcoming holiday season. I'm not the only one in this house though. Kendra's excited about getting out the Christmas decorations while Tyler and Colby have already watched The Santa Clause 2 movie about 10 times!!! Then today, I took the boys out to run some errands and we ended up at a store where I bought them each their own "Santa Hat". It was so cute to see them wear them around the store (that's after I decided I would buy them by the way). Then they've worn them all afternoon as well. Very cute.

Tonight, it's daddy's night with the boys while Kendra enjoys a nice evening of scrapbooking with a friend. I had my night out last night. This was our birthday gifts to each other since we'd already spent our allocated birthday money !! HA I was excited about my night because I ended up purchasing a cool "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book that I'd wanted for a long time. It's a "classic looking" book with some cool illustrations. Plus it stays true to the original writing of the classic Christmas story that appeared as a poem printed in a NY newspaper back in 1823. Here's a little excerpt from the book's illustrator:

"In 1844, a man named Clement C. Moore claimed authorship of "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas." Since then, many scholars have contested that claim and have even named other possible authors, so we may never know the identity of the anonymous writer. Over the years, the poem has also undergone changes. It has become known to many by a different title, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas', after it's opening line. Also many editors have taken liberties in altering it's original punctuation and spelling. Some have even changed the names of Santa's reindeer. "

I was really looking for a book like this and I finally found one that was a true classic. One of the ways I would check would be to look at the last line in the book. If it said "Merry Christmas to all..." then I would put it right back on the shelf. It needed to say "Happy Christmas to all ... " in order to meet my standards. This one even has the reindeer names listed as "Dunder and Blixem". Anyway, it's a cool book. I'm excited to have it for my family.

Hope each of you are getting into the holiday spirit. I know this family is for sure !!!

God bless you all,

SJ