Guess what time it is?

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I'm excited that it is finally time to decorate for Christmas! Today Mom and I found some fantastic green and ivory fabrics to make stockings from. Aaron and I don't have any stockings, so tomorrow Mom and I are going to finish sewing them. Mom and I also went to the Christmas Store, where I picked up a fantastic bottle brush tree, an alligator ornament and a paper garland of Santas that looks very old. I was happy to find an alligator; Aaron and I are going to start a tradition of collecting ornaments from every place we live in, and an alligator is pretty indicative of Florida. We might also get a Florida State ornament to commemorate Aaron's time in grad school and my first job. :)

I am so very happy to be home. I have missed my family, and even though it seems like I've been home quite a bit this fall, the 24-hour trips really limit how much time I've actually spent with my family. I'm happy this weekend has been full of family time, and even though Dad's football team is in playoffs, he has only had to practice in the mornings and has been home by 10 a.m.

Tonight Mom, Jillian and I sorted my ornaments from our family's collection. I finally get to take my ornaments to my new home and add them, along with Aaron's, to our own tree. It makes me feel so old. I loved looking at each of the ornaments and recalling 20-plus years of memories each of my ornaments has, not to mention the almost 30 years of memories my mom and dad have together in their ornaments. My mom used to paint ornaments every year, and there are so many fun things from the early 80's that make me laugh every year. I want to paint a few for Aaron and me, and one day, I hope, my kids will be able to know the stories about why our family hangs an alligator ornament on our tree. :)

Another one of my favorite things about my new old ornaments? They're stored in a Shiner Bock Holiday Beer case that my dad brought home fully that was once full of Shiner Christmas brew. It's really, really cute and makes me happy. And it made me happy to see my husband and my dad, my two favorite men in the world, drinking Shiner Christmas brew together. I'm blessed.

I hope each of you have had a restful, love-filled Thanksgiving.