it's beginning to look a lot like christmas....

it's snowing!
our lights are on the house!
the wreath is up!
the tree is up!
random decorations are cluttering the house!

yes, it's christmas.

and while i get annoyed at the clutter (this year I made mike take AWAY something and put christmas in its place rather than add...) the kids are so excited about it. that makes it allll worth it.

we're doing this Elf on a Shelf thing... basically a little Elf (which we named Sparkle) hangs out in the house and watches the behavior of the kids... then when they fall asleep he goes to the North Pole and tells Santa about their behavior and he makes notes. The next morning his spot has shifted so that the boys know he actually went somewhere overnight.... today was a lot of "now you don't want Sparkle to go tell Santa about THAT behavior, do you?"....

You can find the book and Elf if you Google Elf on a Shelf... lots of places sell it online and I believe you can get it at Hallmark stores too!