Christmas at the Franks

Christmas has arrived!!! The day after Thanksgiving christmas music seranaded us as we played cards with mom and dad, the web was searched for "cut your own christmas trees" and the many many christmas boxes were lowered through the attic trap door. I told myself I wasn't going to do this much this year - with Addison at the curious and "pulling" stage and with us only a month away from moving (we're moving down the street for those of you who don't know), and for some strange reason, it really doesn't feel like much; it's definitely not like our home is puking christmas, but all the boxes ARE empty - - with the exception of a few small childhood tree oranments that did not make the cut this year.

We found a cool place to get our tree. We didn't cut it or get to pull Addison in his toboggin through the snow to find the perfect tree, but it was cheap and big and fat. I love it. It makes me happy and makes me

  smile.

We didn't know how Addison would do with it. We put it up and left it bare for a few days. Addison looked at it like it was a giant monster or something - What IS this thing invading my play space? Once the lights went on, I think he began to get a real sense of its beauty (picture him pointing his little finger at it, eyebrows raised, head tilted to the side as he inquired "da-da?"). And now, with ornaments of all sorts adorning our green monster, he only tries to avoid its prickly needles as he army crawls underneath to rescue his ball.

We also began the Christmas baking the other day. There isn't much that is better than pulling out the recipes and deciding which 4 or 5 or 6 fattening yummies to bake and "give to the neighbors". Addison is quick to catch on to the real sacrifice this is.