We waited as long as we could.

But, the kids were just too excited.

While I normally like to wait until after Thanksgiving to set out our Christmas decorations, my three little ones just couldn’t wait another day.  And, I suppose I couldn’t, either!

So, this morning Chris and Mack went down to the freezing cold garage to retrieve our bins of Christmas decorations.  As soon as we removed the lids, the kids went crazy. In the best kind of way!  Their enthusiasm today can only be matched by Christmas morning itself!

Evie loved finding an ornament she made in school last year:

And Mack loved racing a tiny rocking horse ornament along the rim of a large box he claimed as his own:

While sweet Vivian quietly perused the selection for the most breakable item (Evie’s beloved ballerina ornament):

I was particularly happy to set out a few of my favorite decorations.  Like the gold box with the blue bow that Chris presented to me when he asked me to marry him:

And the framed Christmas cards we send out every year:

And, it is always fun to unpack treasured traditions, like the activity advent calendar we use to keep in the Christmas spirit all season:

And the adorable Christmas cape my Aunt Sheila made for Evie a couple years ago.  Of course, Vivian had to trot around in it!

Christmas books are everyone’s favorite – the kids wanted to read all of them at bedtime tonight!

We did as much as we could this morning before we had to leave for my nephew’s baptism.  But, as soon as we returned later in the afternoon the kids wanted to put ornaments on the tree.  I stirred a pot of homemade hot chocolate and we got to work.  Evie and Mack were quite helpful and happy with this task…

…while Vivian was content to let her older siblings do the work so she could prance around in nothing more than a Terra Baby cloth diaper and pink plastic high heels.

I think it will be a wonderful holiday season, even if we started it a little early.