Random

Wow, I've been writing some deep/heavy posts lately.  I should lighten things up a bit around here!

My big girl is turning THREE this week.  I can't believe it.  The day of her birth is still so fresh in my mind.  What a blessing that was after a very stressful first birth w/ our first born.  I hope our upcoming birth in Februrary is just as smooth.  I'm so thankful that she seems really ready to be a big sister too.  She is sooo excited.  It's also nice because she has gotten really cuddly and sweet lately - she always was of course(definitely as an infant) - but she's turned it up a notch so that she can enjoy being the family 'baby' for just a few more weeks.  I love being the mother of a daughter.  What a blessing!

Speaking of babies, a few weeks ago, a random lady in Starbucks got crazy excited for me being pregnant.  It was the first time someone in public had made mention of our pregnancy - so great!  I'm not even sure if she was a mother herself - she didn't seem like it.  Her absolute joy for us was such a gift!  It was especially great that Bryan was with me too.  She thought this was our first - lol! - got a surprise to learn this is actually #4 for us.  Boy is that hard for even me to believe!

I realized lately that we have only a few weeks left till this baby is born.  Okay, so it's really about 13, but w/ the holidays in between (which have somehow snuck up on me!) it's really only half that time. Whew!  Where did 6 months just go?!

For that matter, how about the whole year???  It seems I was just doing all the fun Thanksgiving/Christmas stuff w/ my kids and here we are again.  I love being able to make our own traditions as a family.  Last year, we did a Jesse Tree, which was so much fun.  I made all the felt ornament cut outs and we used them for Advent/decor/play. I'm sure we did some other fun things, but that one stands out the most.  I guess because it took some time to put it all together, and it was so worth it for all of us.

This year, I'm hoping to read The Christmas Pageant aloud to the kids (I think that's what it's called?).  I think my oldest is just old enough for it.

Also, we're staying home for Christmas this year and not traveling as we normally would.  I'll be almost 8 mos. pregnant and just don't want all the hassle that goes along with traveling, holidays, etc at that point in my pregnancy.  We often close out the season w/ sickness bc we've seen so many people in a short period of time.  I'm hoping we can avoid that this year. 

Hubby and I are having fun planning our day.  It will definitely be different for us - neither of us has spent Christmas w/o our parents and siblings before - but I think we'll all have just as good a time here. 

Whew!  I could learn a thing or two about brevity, no?  It's probably time to wrap this up.  Real quick though before I go - what are your favorite holiday traditions?  Either from childhood or in your household currently.  Do tell! : )