On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...

... a heart full of patience. This evening was not one of my better moments in the day. I blame it on the terrible task of having to clean out our office in preparation of having the room repainted and turned into a guest room prior to our big annual Christmas party we host. Yes, this task involved sorting a ton of baby clothes that have been outgrown as well as going through an entire year's worth of papers (medical, paid bills, receipts, bank statements, etc). I thought that catch all baskets were a good idea a year ago when I just began dumping papers into their designated "home". But tonight I changed my mind. Why can't I do the fun Christmas stuff and make gifts, or ornaments, or bake or decorate my house some more? I hate the non-Christmassy tasks of the season. So my wonderful husband just tolerated me as I was snappy and moaning and not being the best mom I could be. I love him so much for things like this.

OK. My poutfest is over. I took some pictures of some ornaments I bought the other day. I love them! Though I am not sure that this place will be their permanent home. They are currently hanging from my chandelier, tied with some of my fancy Christmas ribbon. I'll need to stare at them some more.

And last year I started a tradition. Each year I am going to let my girls pick out a special ornament. I will tag it with their name and the year. When they are grown and have a house of their own, I will give them all of their ornaments so they have a good, sentimental starting point. I love this idea though I get teary eyed thinking of having to part with all the ornaments that have sentimental value to me. And the idea that my babies will be grown and leaving me.

Makaela picked this Santa ornament out last year (with the help of Mommy).


Hannah picked this ornament out all on her own. I tried to show her more colorful and festive ornaments, but she wanted this one.