You know, I am one of those people who gets totally into the holiday spirit. Even last year, when Balian was just a couple of months old, I was full well into Christmas. Don't get me wrong- I'm there this year, too- it's just different. I never dreamed how different it would be trying to do simple holiday things around the house like putting out a few decorations. The things I used to be able to accomplish in two hours now take two days to two weeks! I sort of feel way behind, but I guess for being a first-time mom and Balian now being fourteen months old, I'm probably right on track. Sacha (my husband) says I should give myself way more credit... but I'm just the sort of person who feels that no matter what I do, and no matter the time frame it gets done in, it'll never be good enough for my personal standards. There ya go- me being vulnerable.

Little Elf... Balian's helping us get the ornaments ready to hang on the tree!

All of that aside, I guess we're ready for Christmas. Cards are addressed and ready to be dropped  in Monday's mail. I have a few gifts left to wrap... and Sacha has many gifts to wrap. I do most of the wrapping, but refuse to wrap my own presents! I've checked off all of my To-Do's and made all of my annual records in my Christmas Organizer... oh yeah- I go there. We got the rest of my Christmas decorations from my mother-n-law's house today (I KNEW I had more stuff stashed over there in the attic), but we can't find our stockings. They must be here at my house... somewhere! That'll be tomorrow night's crisis!

 Our 2010 Christmas photo... Balian's 1st Christmas!

Tomorrow (Sunday) kicks off an incredibly busy week for our entire family. We have two huge church service tomorrow- both services of lessons and carols, one contemporary and one traditional. Sacha and I are musically involved in both. I'll try to take some video clips of parts of the services. From there, we'll head to a family dinner, and then go have a family portrait made... just the three of us. The rest of the week will be filled with more Christmas shopping, baking, making appearances at some holiday parties, rehearsals, and then the glorious celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve. 

 We finally got our tree up. 

Sacha insisted on colored lights again.

I can't wait for Christmas day this year. Last year was cute and sweet with it being Balian's first Christmas. Now he's moving and talking and extremely full of personality, so I know Christmas was be a total blast! I can't wait to be with family... enjoy some yummy food, open gifts together, and make some new memories. Oh, and I totally can't wait to see what I got for Christmas! I asked for some weird stuff this year!

And then the day after Christmas, we embark upon our adventurous journey to Tulsa to visit Britt and Cory! I can't wait... Balian and Cory have never met, so it'll be fun to see the way they interact. What I'm not looking forward to is the dreaded 16 hour drive there and back! Pray for us! 

Photo Break!

 Here I am at last week's Wild Women's Christmas Gathering. 

We played White Elephant and I got the Christmas Pickle.

 Someone stole my pickle... so I then picked these nice pinecone candle holders. 

But someone stole those from me, too! So I decided no more Mrs. Nice Witt...

...and now I am very politely stealing this cute 

infinity scarf from sweet Libba Willingham- 

which was later stolen by someone else.

Here's what I ended up with... a pedicure set! 

Needed that!

While I'm gone, I'll be posting some reviews of some pretty cool travel items... or at least, that's the plan! I'll have some giveaways to add from some of these sponsors, so that'll be lots of fun for all of you! And don't worry, Britt, Steph and Jess all have really cool stuff lined up for the coming weeks, as well. Don't forget about us over the holidays! We surely won't be forgetting you! Be sure to interact with us on Facebook. We just added a new Fan of the Week app to our page, so that should add a lot of fun!

Wishing you peace and joy!

~Ondria~

PS- Would so love some comment love from you guys! That can be my Christmas gift from you!