christmas already

i can't believe that christmas eve is just 8 days away! short of a case of wine to gift, we pretty much have all of our christmas shopping done. that's huge, because i'm usually running around like a madwoman on the morning of christmas eve trying to find those last minute gifts. i triple like that we got done early this year and i love that i was able to put some good thought into the presents. i hope everyone loves them!

in our house, christmas is all over the place. 

the stocking are hung.

the boys' nutcracker collection is on display. for some reason, they loooove these things. here are a few of my favorites.

yes, that's a clone trooper nutcracker. whodathunkit?

christmas cards are arriving.

shutterfly finally just shipped ours. i hope we can get them to everyone before christmas! hahah

the tree is up and trimmed (finally!) and i got a sneak peek of my christmas presents - and i must say, they are the best presents ever!

wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!

xoxo, the adams six-pack 

operation christmas child

as the holidays approach and the boys are consumed with creating wish lists and behaving for santa, i always try to remind them that the holidays are not just a season for wishing, but also for giving. i try to show them that we truly have much more than we really need and, for that, we are so very thankful. i do my best to teach them how to give, in even the smallest ways possible throughout the year, and especially during the holidays. 

we were first introduced to operation christmas child when isaiah started at a christian preschool at two years old. we have been packing christmas shoe boxes for children every year since. we pack the shoe boxes with toys, personal hygiene items (toothbrushes, combs, etc) and other school supplies, then pay $7 to ship the boxes and they get delivered to children in need all over the world. the program has improved greatly since we first started, where we can now pay the $7 online (versus writing a check), then we receive a tracking number and can see which country/town the boxes go to. pretty amazing. this time, we are enclosing a note from isaiah which will include our address and we hope the child will write back.

i decided to try something a little different this year. with the hopes of further driving in the lesson that they have far more than they really need, i challenged isaiah and mikey to go around the house and find things that we already had, but have not used, to fill the shoe box with. 

the amount of "stuff" they came back to me with had me speechless. it just goes to show that there's a lesson to be learned at any age.

play dough, a flash light, jump rope, glow-in-the-dark bracelets, markers, crayons, toothbrush, dental floss...we packed the shoe box with toys, goodies and lots and lots of love.

i even had this sweet boy help me sort through their halloween candy. we separated all of the hard candies and lollipops and added them to the shoe box. 

if you haven't started this tradition with your children, or any tradition that instills the spirit of giving, i encourage you to do so. because that is what the spirit of christmas is all about. happy holidays!!!!

heirlooms

see this cute little guy?

i'll bet you can never guess how old he is.

older than ME, that's for sure!

and guess where he was found? in an old toolbox in my mother-in-law's garage.

shawn's mom was so great about creating and preserving heirlooms and now our boys are very fortunate to have these wonderful pieces of their daddy's childhood to hang onto - from ornaments to legos to stuffed toys. they probably don't quite understand how special these things really are right now, but i'm sure that one day they will, when they have children of their own. until then, i'll happily be the keeper of it all. they will be treasured and loved and cherished until they can finally be passed on.

speaking of memories, shawn's dad sent us this photo.

i should find out how old it really is, but judging from shawn's age, it's probably from 1977 or 1978 - about as old as the cookie monster ornament above. i can just picture that 4-year-old boy, excited for the coming Christmas, with joy in his eyes as he runs his fingers across each ornament in the store display until he finally chooses this very special - very perfect - ornament as his own. 

heirlooms have an amazing ability to make memories even more special and real than they already are.

speaking of that 4-year-old boy, he has a pretty close resemblance to the little 4-year-old boy sitting on his dad's lap below.

they are so strikingly similar it's almost eerie. and the hair - omg - i had no idea that's the way shawn rocked his when he was a kid. it kills me.