It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

Every year it takes me a bit longer to get into the Christmas spirit, which actually makes me kind of sad.

This year, I was sure I would never be in the Christmas spirit. This is the first year I have had to face the fact that Mr. Curly is a pastor. Which, for those of you who don't know, means you can't travel over the Christmas weekend, especially when Christmas falls on a weekend.

For the past seven years, we have spent Christmas at one family's house or the others. This year, we will spend Christmas in our home, with just our kids. It's going to be really strange to not have a mother, father, brother or sister-in-law around. And since this was the year to spend with my family in particular, it's going to be really hard.

BUT, this weekend, we pulled out all our Christmas decor and hauled it down to the Iowa house (with the exception of this little country tree, which was our first Christmas tree) that we will set up in South Dakota, so we're not completely Christmas free here.

And I finished off a few Christmas gifts for my niece, and decided on what I should get for my sister-in-laws, bought a 2 CD set of Christmas music that includes a bonus hour long fireplace DVD. I know it's kind of cheesy, but I really miss having a fireplace on Christmas Eve, and in Iowa we don't even have a corn stove, so the fireplace DVD will be nice as we listen to the dramatic reading of "The Christmas Carol" (a family tradition I've been part of since I was 13).

We also had our first light snowfall.

So, next Sunday, we will pop in "Charlie Brown's Christmas," order some Domino's pizza (a tradition that Mr. Curly and I began our first year of marriage), and decorate the house for Christmas.

New Christmas traditions are good as well. Who knows, I might enjoy a quiet, travel free Christmas more than I expect.

Oh, and the picture above - it is from the Christmas I was pregnant with Curly Boy, when Mr. Curly's sister decided Curly Girl needed a rocking horse. Doesn't it make for the coolest, classic Christmas picture you've ever seen?