They're checking to see which Christmas special is on tonight. Don't you check every day? No? Your days don't center on which Christmas-themed activity will be most exciting? You don't have your iTunes Christmas playlist on constant shuffle all day? Well, you need to re-evaluate and find some Christmas spirit!

In fact, my favorite Katherine quote from the last few days was during our family viewing of "Rudolph."

"Why can't the GIRL reindeer fly and pull the sleigh?"

I was surprised and my first response was something like, Maybe Santa doesn't know that girls are as strong as boys, but you can ask him this year when you see him, OK?

Katherine wasn't interested in my idea though, she decided, "I think there's magic in the antlers and that's what makes them fly. And only BOY reindeers have antlers, so only the boys can fly!"

I'm glad we were able to clear up that confusion!

What's This?

Why, it's an 'Advent Plate' of course. You have a wreath? You've never heard of an Advent plate? Well, we hadn't either. But we also forgot that our wreath didn't make it through last year, and we weren't prepared on Sunday. So Chris got creative and designed this recycled/repurposed Advent Plate.

We don't have many rituals, but dinners in Advent are always special. We talk about how Advent is for waiting, and each night we go around the table and talk about what we're waiting for. Sometimes it's Jesus, other times it's FOOD. This week there's been a LOT of excitement about the school Christmas concert (December 16, 2pm, be there or be square!) But it is just nice to stop, take a deep breath, and enjoy a quiet minute or two together.

Of course, we have the Traditional Chocolate calendar as well. Boom Boom always makes sure we have them. This morning at breakfast, Maggie went from sleepy and crabby to beyond excited, jumping from the table shouting "IT'S DECEMBER FIRST - WE CAN HAVE OUR CHOCOLATE!"

And now I'm off to read a few chapters of The BFG and then enjoy our DVR'd 'MUPPET CHRISTMAS' because you just can't have enough Christmas Spirit in this house!