Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Well, we did it. We put up our tree this weekend. Normally we wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving, but since we are going out of town to see the Boemer clan this weekend, we decided to go for it! We got the majority of the inside decorated on Saturday during and after the AU v UA game. Too bad Alabama lost, but what a great season! And we have a bowl game to go. Anyway, we got our tree put up with all of the Alabama ornaments and some that we have collected for the kids over the last few years. I plan on starting each of my boys an ornament box and collecting an ornament a year for them each year. They each have a baby's first ornament and a couple of others. Anyway, we got out the Alma Mater Santa, and Henry the Snow Man, and Big Al and his sleigh. And before we knew it, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house!

On Sunday, we went to church. Pastor Danny preached an awesome sermon on Romans 8:1 and how to avoid living your life in guilt. He made that point that everyone has done things they are not proud of. That at the end of our time on earth, if our life was laid out of a film strip, there would be flashed of mercy and forgiveness spanning throughout our lives. Good, good stuff. Especially to me. I sometimes fight the ghosts of mis-deeds past! But thank God, those mistakes are covered by the blood! Anyway, we loaded up and headed home. Picked up Del-Toro on the way home, and it was good stuff too! Then we all took a LONG nap. And that was VERY GOOD stuff! Then we all got up and got to decorating! It was so much fun, guys! I felt like a kid again. I honestly thought it was going to be nothing but work, but I was pleasantly surprised. With each decoration, I could feel my excitement rising! And it was all fueled by seeing the wonder and excitement in Tres's and Bryant's eyes. They loved every minute of it!

After we decorated for a while, we took the kids to McDonalds to play a little. Then we went to Wal-Mart and let Tres pick out little small presents for each of his cousins. This is one part of parenting that I love... teaching my kids how to give and share and love! He picked out some fun stuff (as fun as it get for under $3!), but we can't say what, cause his cousins might see this! Love you guys! We are exchanging gifts with Hanks sisters and their families this weekend because this if the first time in FOREVER that we will all be together and most likely it will be another FOREVER before we are again! So we are definitely looking forward to some seriously chaotic and fun family time!

Then we headed home with two extremely tired munchkins, got them in bed, and finished most of the outside stuff, then called it a night ourselves. It was overall a GREAT weekend! Hope you enjoy all the pics!