It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We love Christmastime. Though that should be 'enough said,' here are 10 reasons why, this year at the Singer home we truly can say, "it's the most wonderful time of the year."

1. We made our 2nd annual batch of Christmas cookie countdown chains. I love these things; they're so darned cute, though I missed Megan severely this year as I did most of the chain making solo.

2. We've had a couple snows here in New England this December. Hard to pass up a good snowman opportunity.

3. Annie has become a walkin' girl. She loves the Christmas tree and has been very good with it actually. She has figured out which ornaments are bells and likes to whack at them but for the most part, things have gone untouched.

4. Christmas doesn't feel as much like Christmas without being around family. We were glad we got 1 1/2 days with Uncle Phil.


5. We had our Preschool Christmas Program--a fun night with friends and pretty much our CT version of Music and the Spoken Word, 4 year old style. Followed up with nachos and desserts, it made for a great evening.

6. A friend gave us a ticket to go to Bright Nights up in Springfield, MA. This was our first time going and we thought it was great. The kids absolutely loved it and it brought back many a memory for Matt who attended a similar light display every year growing up.

7. One of my favorite parts of Christmastime is setting up our nativities. We have 9 or 10 of them that we have collected over our marriage from different places we have been. Matt has gotten them from his travels to Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Mexico; I have added to our collection with ones from Israel and Puerto Rico; and we have our combined memory nativities from Argentina and the good ole U.S. of A. (though probably made in China).

8. I love putting up Christmas cards we receive on the wall. I guess since we are so far from so many that we love, I love getting to see pictures and have memories right there in my kitchen all December. It helps me think of everyone more and I love it.

This was last week...we had a lot more late comers this week.

If you zoom in, maybe you'll even see a card from you! If not, we'd love one next year. Hint hint! :)

9. What could be a better way to spend Christmas Eve day than to head to Chuck E. Cheese with the neighbors. It was a great way to relieve some of that Christmas excitement that was building up and bouncing off the walls at our house. Plus it wasn't too crowded...a bonus!

10. New PAJAMAS!!! Aunt Megan has begun the tradition at our home with a PJ present that gets opened on Christmas Eve. Mary had it figured out what the present was and Andrew kept saying "I'm just so excited b/c Aunt Megan always does crazy things." (?)

The trivia question that goes along with these pictures is this: can you determine which of our children has the hardest time taking a 'normal' picture. While the answer seems to be 'all of the above', one actually seems to stand out a bit here.

Wow! 18 hours later, there you have it. Yea Christmastime.