Celebrating the start of the season:

The day after Thanksgiving, we took the liberty of moving right into the Christmas Season. In recent years, I had been feeling like this was all very rushed. It felt like very little of the Thanksgiving Season was actually enjoyed...the world seems to push right through that to get it over with. Like I mentioned last week, though, I am starting to understand how the two are intertwined.
I can't say that's necessarily why stores start playing Christmas music the day after Halloween but still...
Having enjoyed a very nice day of family and peace, our home felt like it was calling out for some Christmas decorations. So...

Down they come.

Since we had a nice long weekend with JC home, the outside took priority and I did very little work on the inside until later this week. So, we got a lot of outside playtime on a pretty "winter" day. I bundled the kids and even started out quite layered myself. Ended up in my t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops before too long. The kids ditched the jackets eventually and JC was in a t-shirt and shorts, carrying around a sweat rag as he worked. Such is putting up Christmas lights in Gilbert, AZ.

James explored in the open garage and found an old Elmo toy. Toys get scattered around this place. The bad thing is, no matter how much they like something, there is a good chance it will get lost real fast. The good thing is, it's very exciting to come across it again!

At first, Ben practiced his moves on the tricycle.

But, after a while, he got brave and when Bethany gave up her turn on the golf cart, he jumped on. JC's dad gave this to us a while back and because of bad weather, a bad battery, nervous kids, etc. we hadn't used it much until recently. But boy did he get excited about it finally!
It's literally a tiny little golf cart. And he drove it in circles until he was dizzy.
(He doesn't really get the steering yet, hence the circles.)

Our neighbor, Michael, came over to play and had a blast chasing Ben around.
I think he was hoping for a turn.
When Ben did finally give it up, Michael happened to get summoned home right about then. Poor Michael. But I am very happy to know that my kids are not the only ones willing to throw fits in front of friends and neighbors.
I don't know if his uncle (apparently in charge at the moment) was as happy.

Ben was though.

The kids eventually got bored and had their moments of nearly tripping JC as he hung the lights so I took them in the backyard where their current favorite thing to do is swing.
James likes to pretend to be asleep when he gets a turn in the baby swing.

Ben gets quite excited about getting a turn on the big boy swing.

And Bethany's just cute.

All swinging came to a halt, though, when we discovered Scout had wandered back as well and was exploring the neighbors' yards visually while perched on the fence.

James was concerned.

Rescue was attempted.

After a while, we all (Scout included) wandered back inside for some rest.
Not before eating lunch in The Captain's Ship, of course.
I love love love spending time outdoors this time of year. I really look forward to the time when we work more as a family. Someday we'll all head outside the day after Thanksgiving, dragging storage bins, and string lights up together. We'll rake up leaves and weed the garden. We'll still eat lunch outside but the tomatoes on our plates will come from that garden and not the grocery store...and the kids might not eat in The Captain's Ship. Unless, maybe, my dreams come true and we have a Captain's Ship II in the form of a tree house in the big tree outside our kitchen window, built with our own hands. (JC probably thinks I have forgotten about this harebrained scheme since when I brought up the possibility he just raised one eyebrow at me and changed the subject. Raise the eyebrow all you want, honey. It's happening. ...Also...I love you.)
Well, anyway, that's enough talk about the future. I do get really excited thinking about all the things we can do together as a family, the different phases we'll go through. But, just today, I was looking around at the kids being...kids...and thinking about how much fun this phase is. Especially as I learn to accept it for what it is! Which is, essentially...chaos and cuteness.
And...right now..Christmas! Yay!

P.S. JC just called me into the family room because he discovered a PBS special on which Andrea Bocelli was singing. He knows I like him and have an eternal flame of love burning for his Romanza album. I just sat and listened to him sing for a while. It has been years since I have listened to him but I have to say, I think I love him more now. I am rarely passionate about any particular artist or music for that matter...I tend to just enjoy it all and see it all just about equally. But, seriously, listening to him sing I could actually see that flowing liquid chocolate in those truffle commercials in my mind. That is what his voice is. Rich, flowing chocolate. There's never too much going on, no strain, no push, just...flow. Just...richness without the drama.
I just had to share. Do yourself a favor and find something of his to listen to. Even if you don't normally care for his style of music (because, believe it or not, I wouldn't normally go out of my way for it either), you may still enjoy. Consider it my gift to you. :)