Not sure if you can read the journaling, so I'll include it here:

Happy birthday, Dad! You’d have been 58 today. I’ve been trying to think of something we can do as a family every year to celebrate your birthday...some little tradition we can start so that we can feel together even when we’re not. When I asked Joe if he had any ideas, he mentioned that every year he’d ask you what you wanted for your birthday and you’d say simply “go to church and say a rosary.” So very like you. I wasn’t able to convince all the others, but I did go to church today for you. Nathan came home early so we could go to the evening service as a family. The homily was amazingly fitting. The priest talked about advent and the word “prepare.” He emphasized how we must prepare not only for the material trappings of the season but how we must prepare our lives for God...how we must live a life of faith and service. Dad, I can’t think of a single person who was more prepared to meet God than you. I wish you were here to blow out your candles, but I know that you are in a better place and that you are at peace. The way you lived your life simply leaves no alternative. So, even though we were not at all “prepared” for your death, I find comfort in the fact that you were. And so, today, I celebrated your prepared life. I have no present for you, but you’ve given me a priceless one...your example.

Happy birthday once again, Dad. I love you.

(More on our ornament projects and all tomorrow...)

Countdown books. So, after Options today, I gave the boys their countdown books and they were, predictably, thrilled. It was too dark to take pictures, but trust me...they had a blast coloring those first pictures.

Ornament a day. After the coloring, we made our first (and second) ornaments for our ornament a day attempt this month. (They were so excited after finishing the first one, they simply had to do another and I caved.) I decided to start out easy and just did a simple store-bought kit today (beaded candy canes and beaded wreaths)...will work up to more complicated ornaments. I have to admit that I was starting to have reservations about the whole thing and, in particular, was wondering if I should make more of an attempt to do more "crafty" unique ornaments...but, after seeing the boys' delight with such a simple thing as stringing silly colored beads on wire, I'm good now with simply making an ornament a day...any ornament. If it goes well, maybe next year we can shoot for more ambitious style. :) Oh, and realistically, I won't remember to take a picture every day, but I will take a picture of each day's ornament and try to post them once or twice a week, okay? If you have any cool ornament ideas, I'd LOVE to hear/see them! (If tonight was any indicator, I may need more ideas than the list I have now, lol.)

Advent calendars. In years past, we've had the somewhat traditional wooden door hiding a little ornament that you take out and hang on the door or on a tree sorts of advent calendars. No complaints really. This year, with our ornament a day (which is basically the same thing as the advent calendar act anyhow since the boys get to hang their completed ornament on their own little tree each day) and our countdown calendars and the overall lack of space after you take those into account, we've opted not to use those wooden ones. Because I'm weak, though, I did buy them this one. It's only day one but they're in love. We'll see how well it goes considering there's only one calendar and three boys... ;)

For next year and the years after, I'm thinking the stands of mittens or stockings like in Kaitlin's post here are simply adorable. I may have to start collecting tiny stockings. ;)

Elf on the shelf. I hadn't heard of this until a year or so ago when a friend mentioned it. Then I saw it in a catalog. And another. Then, I found it in a local toy store and accepted it as fate that I must have one. :) So, today, our very own Elf on the Shelf was welcomed into our family. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. Regardless, he sure is a cute bit of decor. :)

Wrapped books. We started this a year or two ago (I think two) after reading about it somewhere. We take a bunch (at least 25) of holiday/winter themed books and wrap them up individually. We then put them under the tree and the boys take turns selecting and unwrapping one (sometimes more) each night leading up to Christmas for their bedtime story. It's been so wonderful. The boys (for the most part) stop asking to unwrap any other presents that may appear (as they're getting that unwrapping bug out of their system each night), and we don't have to read "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" twenty five times during December (nothing against Rudolph, of course). Plus, it's just a nice little reminder that time spent together is a gift all its own.

Whew. With all that going on pretty much every day during December, it's no wonder I'm tired. :) Do you have any daily routines you add each December? I'd love to hear about them (because, obviously, I don't have enough going on, LOL!).

I'm silly happy about this little piece that I finally got around to making. I've been saying that I'm going to do it for a long while now. See. I collect coasters at restaurants. I don't really know why. I kept saying that I was going to do something with them, and now I finally have. This isn't all the coasters I've collected, obviously, but I think it's a nice little representation. I simply cut them into squares and arranged them on some nice white Prism cardstock...stuck it all in a 12x12 frame...and hung it in the kitchen. Totally simple, but isn't it fun? :)

So, what are you creating lately? (It's okay...chances that the recipients of your gifts will be reading the comments of my blog are slim, right?)

Okay, I'm going back to those other crafty things now...

The two little boys (Micah and Aaron) spent much of their time watching their big brothers. The two little girls watched Strawberry Shortcake and played with the dollhouse in the other room. :) I'm sure if we'd turned off the Wii and involved them in some other activity, they'd have done fine. But we let them have their fun for the day.

Not much else to report right now. Today's been a very lazy day around here. No Black Friday shopping for me. :) If you did venture out, here's hoping you had a good time and found some great deals!

1. Did you realize that Christmas is ONE MONTH away?!! How the heck did that happen? (Actually, by the time I finish typing this post, it'll be less than a month...oy!)

2. Asher's kindergarten teacher at Options was recently offered a full time position elsewhere. This past Monday was her last day, and we're all rather bummed. (Given the nature of only seeing her one day a week and all that, we only found out on Monday morning that that would be her last day.) While I completely understand that a full time position with benefits is fantastic compared to one day a week without benefits, and while I'm sincerely happy for her (this is her first year teaching btw), Asher's still pretty down. He's such a relational sort of boy...cares so much for the people in his life. Sigh. On the plus side, though, I did happen to have my camera with me Monday, as I'd already been planning to help her with a craft after lunch. Here's Asher and his teacher:

Sweetly, Micah's pretty sad also. He loves seeing Asher's class every Monday (I do lunch/recess duty every week) and had taken to calling Asher's teacher on his pretend phones. Micah, now, is mad at me because I didn't think to take a picture of him with Asher's teacher.

3. Thanksgiving is in two days! We're heading to my brother's house (about 45 minutes away, so not bad) and will hang with them and another friend and her kids...should be a fun time! In preparation, today, I printed out some coloring sheets for the kids to do Thursday. We adults might even join in. Not sure whether you saw my little sidebar in the November issue of CK, but I did a layout there about our turkey coloring contest last Thanksgiving:

We were all instructed (by my mom) to color one of these turkeys (she'd borrowed a children's menu from a local restaurant and made copies) during the day. After dinner, my youngest sister's boyfriend came over and was made the judge of our little contest (turkeys had been hung from the bookcases without names). Appropriately, my mom won. :) I'd forgotten how much fun just coloring could be. With that in mind, I drew this simple turkey coloring page if you're interested. I also found some fun ones to print out here. If you do end up coloring turkeys, I'd love to see them! :)

4. I love this!

5. I also think this is a very cool idea.

6. I'm trying really hard to justify why I simply need this. (Having already purchased some of the tags and owls and numbers...)

7. Oh! I just remembered something I need to do! Gonna cut this list short and continue it later in the week...in the meantime, in case I don't get back tomorrow...Happy Thanksgiving!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Held a praying mantis
9. Climbed a mountain
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Hmm. I'm not sure all of the things that I haven't yet done on this list would be on my list of things I yet want to do, but it's definitely interesting to think about, isn't it? So, how many of these have you done?

This bodes well for me, given the fact that last year the boys and I tentatively made plans to tackle an ornament a day in December. I've been gathering supplies and know that some of the ornaments will turn out better than others (and last longer) but do think it might be fun. Wish me luck!

Today, we all went to a United Way family volunteer day at our local independent bookstore nearby (that we love). We helped make a bunch of Christmas cards to give in sets to the elderly here in Larimer county who can't afford their own so that they can send some. We also got a fun tin full of information about other ways we can help out. I love that the volunteer activity was so fun and the boys, though not nearly as productive as I was in churning out cards, lol, really enjoyed it and understood why we were doing it.

After that, I finished up most of our Christmas shopping. Yes, really. To be honest, I get most of it done throughout the year...today was mostly finishing up the boys' stuff. I really want to have gifts wrapped and done with by December, though, so that I can focus on other stuff like those daily ornaments and everything else. So, while Nathan watched the boys, here's where I went:

Super Target
Toys R Us
Super Target (forgot something, fortunately they're in the same shopping area)
Learning Express (local toy store)
Linens n' Things
Hobby Lobby
Walmart
Target (yes, a different one than Super Target, because Walmart didn't have some of the things I needed)
Toys R Us (yes, again...like I said, Walmart didn't have stuff I thought they would)

So. I'm going to go veg now. :) Oh, and apparently I should get some bigger suitcases, LOL! I don't think some of the boxes I got will fit in ours, though that's a great hiding place idea! (Thanks for the comments!!) At the moment, I'm thinking my plan is to hide them in a mountain of boxes. I have this crazy stash of boxes in the basement that I keep for no good reason. Methinks, though, that they might just work for this. ;) Now...to wait until they're asleep so I can move them all to the basement from the car...

Speaking of hiding...where do you hide your Christmas gifts for others? In the past, I've hidden most of my stuff in the basement closets (course, really, only the boys' stuff needs to be hidden anyhow). This year, though, it appears some of the boxes may be too big. What's a mom to do? Hmmm...any ideas?