I'm LATE!

My friends that know me well, know that I am all about Christmas.   Christmas music, Christmas decorating, Christmas gatherings, Christmas baking, and on and on!  My middle name should be Christmas (although Carole Christmas doesn't really roll off the tongue, so I'll stick with Carole Renee!). The truth is, that to my parents, I'll always be their "Christmas Carole", seeing as I was born on Dec. 26th. Maybe that's why Christmas has always been the most special time of the year for me. Throw in our wedding anniversary on Dec. 1st and you've got another reason to celebrate!

Traditions...
For as long as I can remember, my family has always gathered on Christmas Eve. I think that is my favorite day of the year - I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than with my family. After the Church program, everyone heads to Mom and Dad's for the best meal of the year. Dad bbq's the biggest, baddest steaks you've ever seen! It used to be steak, salad, garlic bread, and home made icecream for

 dessert (also made by Dad). Now, with the growing family, for some reason the menu has also grown to include beans and schmaunfat, potatoes and more salads (and of course, candy for Kerry and me, the sugar addicts... remember those orange slices?).   We always read the Christmas story and have a time of prayer before getting to the presents.  We try to get some hot tubbing in too.  It's such a perfect night!

Now, back to the part about being late....
As long as we've been married, Don has given me one rule about decorating for Christmas....It CAN NOT start till November 1st! That is the day that I always look forward to. Before setting up the trees (there are 5 of them, but really, 3 are in a cluster in the living room, so that actually only counts as one, plus one in the dining room and one in the sunroom!) I first have to set the mood. This ALWAYS involves putting in a very old but classic Christmas CD by Amy Grant from the 80's. This has got to be one of my favorite songs!




So fast forward to last night, about 4:00 in the morning, while I'm up with Nate. I suddenly realize it's November 2nd...and the thought of starting to decorate hasn't even crossed my mind. Talk about reality check. Suddenly those things just don't have the priority they once did. Although I have to remember that life still needs to include all the 'normal' things that it always has.

So, I will get to the trees sooner or later. But for now, I'll just prepare my heart.....it's never too late for that.

This is definitely NOT a picture of my house, but a girl can dream, can't she?!

I just had to add this, I'm sure my family will LOVE me for doing this!  Last year, we played a little game.  Everyone got a piece of paper and had to hold it behind their back and try to rip it into the shape of a Christmas tree!  It was a lot of fun.  Some turned out a little better than others!