a break + a new tradition

Libby is officially on Christmas break. Woo hoo! I am so excited!! We both get a nice little break from packing lunches and rushing out the door in the morning!

{we had sweet Tucker over last night! can you tell they have so much fun together!?
Libby had pj day at school while they watched the polar express... hence the reason why she's in her pjs!}

Libby took her sweet friends and teachers their gifts today. She LOVES presents, and gets really excited about giving them out to her friends and teachers. {and she doesn't mind receiving them either. :)}

I've been working on wrapping presents and my Christmas shopping up. I'm getting close! I
decided to take a more non-traditional attempt at the gift wrapping this year. I found this rafia at World Market and thought it looked so pretty together!

On to a new tradition in our household... We are doing a Jesse tree this year! I wanted to start one last year, but it just didn't happen. We are a little behind though with our readings. We are trying to catch up since there's almost less than 5 day until Christmas! Ahh!

Libby has loved putting the ornaments on the tree each morning and night. I hope that this will be something that she looks forward to every year! Thanks to Holly for all the wonderful links! {We used Ann Voskamp's printables and devotions.} It's a lot to print, but I put in a binder so I will use these year after year.

Now I've just got to shake this cold and find my voice! Thanks to these 3 things for helping me be somewhat productive today!

 P.S.- I thought I would share this FOTF broadcast about creating a memorable and meaningful Christmas. I have the FOTF app on my phone, and it has become such a great tool for me. I try to listen to the broadcast when I'm ironing, folding laundry, etc. They have such great practical advice for EVERYone!

Merry CHRISTmas!!!