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Ok, so by now, it's actually looking quite a bit like Christmas. The tree is up and fully decorated, which is at minimum 50% of the Christmas look. We have a couple of lighted reindeer and some colored lights we keep telling Caleb we'll put up outside, but haven't gotten around to yet. He sees houses decorated as we drive about town, and asks why ours isn't decorated. That's because your parents are too lazy, son. No seriously, we'll do it soon.

Of course with a four-year-old and a one-year-old, none of the presents are displayed as they have previously always been. They're stacked up carefully on a shelf in the guest-room closet, waiting to make their appearance at midnight on Christmas Eve, when the children will be nestled all snug in their beds. Otherwise, we'd have bits of wrapping paper all over the living room. Or worse.

Of course, living at a lofty 6 miles above sea level in Northern California, we won't be seeing any white on Christmas. At least in Washington we had the whiteness of dense Christmas fog to give a feeling of festivity. Here we got a sprinkling of rain last night and I wouldn't be surprised if we perhaps get another by the end of the year. So the White Christmas will be in hearts and minds only.

My favorite piece of Christmas decorations, though, is my Precious Moments nativity. It is a set of miniature PM figurines that includes the Baby Jesus in a manger, Mary, Joseph, the wise men, a shepherd holding, a lamb, a camel, and a cow. It is the sweetest thing I've ever seen, and Bryan bought it for me the first year of our marriage, so it has special meaning on top of the deep, original Meaning of Christmas.

This week my mom will be arriving, so I'm hoping to get some (housekeeping/webbuilding/appts) business out of the way in these first few days of the week so we can spend some quality time while she's here!