Best Christmas Present Ever!

As I sit here and listen to Dwayne giving the kids a bath I am reminded of what I am most thankful for this Christmas. The best present I can be given for christmas this year isn't under the tree. It is upstairs in the bathroom. It is having my husband home safe and sound!

As a military family we have spent many holidays apart. Between ranges, field time and deployments Dwayne hasn't always been home to celebrate with us. Because of this you really learn to treasure the time you do have together as a family. You learn the best things in the world can't be wrapped in a box and put under the tree.

So while yes this will be a hard Christmas for us for other reasons I will be thankful we are able to spend it with him. We never know if he will be home for the next one, so we make sure to enjoy the times we do have him here.

So thank you Santa and the US Army for allowing us to spend this special time of year together! And I will be thinking about those of my friends who have to spend it apart. I pray for strength and peace for you and you family and for your spouse to come home safe and sound so next year you can enjoy this day with them as a family.

Decorating the Tree

This weekend we finally got around to decorating the tree. Since our fake tree broke last year and we don't have the money to replace it this year we decided to wait and get a real one from Trees for Troops. It is a great program that gives free Christmas trees to military families! I stupidly sent my husband alone to get a tree, lol. He comes back with a tree over 7ft tall and about 4ft wide, lol. He did trim it up and make it a bit shorter but it is still VERY wide, lol. But it is beautiful! Luckily we have the room for it, lol. All but two strands of our lights broke in the move, thankfully a wonderful friend gave us some lights she no longer needs. Two strands would not have been enough for this tree, lol. We also didn't have near enough ornaments for this big tree so Dwayne's mom gave us hers to use too.

Now of course since we let the kids do most of the ornaments it isn't the perfect looking tree but it is beautiful in other ways. I wouldn't have it any other way. Christmas for me is about the kids, about the joy and innocence they have and if they want more than half the ornaments on the bottom of the tree since that is all they can reach it is okay by me, lol.

They had so much fun doing it. I am so happy they are finally at the age where they are understanding Christmas and able to enjoy everything about it. Even though this year the holidays are hard for me their excitment is contagious and takes some of the saddness away. I can't wait to see their faces Christmas morning!