sorry, longer post than i'd intended!

There you are Kirsty ;)

I woke up sick this morning :( not my favourite thing. But I'm hoping a lot of rest will make the difference.

When I get the energy all I have to do is gather & hang Malakai's new curtain's and that's all done. Josh's are getting there and we're going to leave doing the baby's room til early next year when things aren't so busy (she'll sleep in the bassinette in our room for at least the first 3 months anyway).

Otherwise there really isn't much to say...oh Christmas traditions!

Well, so far we've put up the 'Little People' nativity set. Josh and Kai LOVE IT and it's a great tool for when we read parts of the account of Jesus' birth from the bible each night. Josh is really getting into that - lots of questions :) it's such a special time. This morning he was telling Kai about how Jesus came to earth as a 'tiny' baby and how the wise men came and gave Him gifts and the animals came to visit too...beautiful.

We haven't got advent calendars this year. I wanted this one from Koorong that has little doors for each day and a little piece of the nativity set gets added over the 25 days...but I checked out the little pieces and they looked kinda...well...not as good as they look in the picture on the website! So I thought I'd leave it for this year and think about something else for next year (maybe). I don't mind the chocolate ones, but I constantly forget to open them so then the kids get like 2 or 3 chocs at once and it sorta loses the whole point.

We also have 'part' of this nativity on layby which I have loved for AGES (as have a lot of people!)...need to get it OFF layby soon so it actually gets used this year :) we only got part cause well, look at the price!!

We're not sure when we'll get to do the tree. We didn't get a chance last weekend as Aaron and his dad were fixing the steps down to the garage (if you've ever walked on them you'll know why). And they'll be finishing that off this saturday and then we've got a wedding to go to...so perhaps we'll have to do it over a few nights or something. (The book that we read while we put it up - for Kirsty - is: The Three Trees)

Some more traditions that we'll stick with are:

• Checking out the Christmas lights around Canberra - I vaguely remember there's some good ones in Bonython and Gordon...any other suggestions?
  
• We support a charity each year (our Christmas present to Jesus) including Christmas for Christ within our church and maybe TEAR or CBM...not sure yet
• Listening to carols of course :) we have this CD and this one, am hoping to get this one soon
  
• Making Christmas pudding (using my Grandma's recipe) and other Christmas goodies.
  
• Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas day
• Watching Christmas DVD's together
  
• Opening a gift on Christmas Eve, which is new pj's for everyone and then we spend time together either reading or watching Christmas stories in our new pj's. (Only this year there's something on at church on Christmas Eve PLUS my uncle and family will be coming up then too...so we're not exactly sure what's happening yet).
  

So yeah...that's probably all we'll get to, and I'm really glad to have simplified it down a little. We've already sent off our cards (we tend to only send them interstate/overseas) and we always display the ones we receive after reading them together (like you guys do Pam) that's always been one of my favourite things about Christmas. Presents are almost totally done too :) that helps me relax a little!

There you go - not much different to what everyone else does :) traditions are a really special thing. May everyone enjoy whatever it is that they've decided is meaningful for their family this Christmas and may we also remember like Mel said, that ultimately it is all about Jesus and why He came.