Christmas Has Come to Town

Every year on the day after Thanksgiving we decorate the house for Christmas. We put up the tree, hang the stockings, set out the nativity, all while blasting Christmas carols. This year I was pleased to see that all this festiveness didn't lessen James' love for his bat hoodie, which he still wears out and about on an almost daily basis.
One of the things I am so grateful for again this year is our plastic nativity set. I let the children "play" with it in the olive wood stable (which glues back together again quite beautifully.) This way they can touch, handle, and rearrange the figures at will, without me harping on them or fussing about breakage.
It's fun to hear James acting out stories with them. Sometimes, the shepherds are chasing Mary and the Baby Jesus because they want to catch Mary's sheep, cut off their hair and eat them. Sometimes James has the other Christmas decorations (nesting Santa dolls, stuffed penguin, snowman paper weight) gather around while Joseph tells a more traditional story of Jesus' birth in a manger under the Star of Bethlehem.

I love Christmas, and I love watching my kids soak up traditions that I was raised with. (Well, there were no sheep-blood-thirsty shepherds in my childhood but you get my drift.)