Deck the Shelves

It was a rainy and cold day outside, so there wasn't much we could do outside anyway.  There's a certain sequel movie out this weekend, but we figured it might be a little crowded for that, and we also figured the movie will be out for a few weeks more, so why not wait until things settle down a bit.  That being said, it was a good day to pack - and a good day to unpack too.  First, the packing is in regards to a quick upcoming trip we're making to see the relatives in Florida.  Mommy spent a good deal of time packing clothing and whatnot, while Daddy was getting all kinds of interesting podcasts and movies packed for the trip down.  We did a great deal of housecleaning as well, fighting the battle against cobwebs and so forth.  Daddy was down in the basement with the Thanksgiving decorations - we'll have some of those ready for next week too, although a little less than what we usually do.  The unpacking continued with finding more Christmas decorations to go up - we took all our framed pictures of Madison with Santa and put them up on the shelves.  They go back to 2008, when we were passing by Santa at the mall, and weren't ready for the picture yet with any particular outfit on Madison, and yet she ran right up to him without hesitation, and the two were just getting along so splendidly that we went ahead and had the picture taken.  Fast forward to last year, another spontaneous visit at the Northeast Georgia History Center.  We hadn't had time to get to an official Santa photo yet, and this was something they were doing free at an event last year, posing with Santa.  It just worked out so well that we could do that.  It was free - which is about thirty dollars cheaper than going to a mall - and they even printed it out for you.  We kept that print, because it turned out really well, and we framed it today and put it on the shelf with the other pictures.  Hopefully this year we'll have time for another visit with Santa to add a picture on the shelf.  Some time soon, we'll post all the pictures here in one successive gallery, I suppose.   For some, we have rather unique frames.  In fact, there are a few other pictures we've framed that are not with Santa, but still have that Christmas theme to them.  These are on the shelves too, along with the Christmas glasses, the ornaments, the Wise Men's items, and other seasonal things too.  The great room is looking quite festive!

Madison was helping out some, but also working on her piano as well.  She took a bath, and somewhere along the line, we sat down to watch "Smoky Mountain Christmas," which for some reason has not been released on DVD.  We had to settle for this DVD Daddy had made years ago, but really - why is this not released yet, given that we have pretty much everything else out there?  It's a fun little movie, one we like to watch each year.  Madison requested it, along with a few other Dolly Parton Christmas movies.  We'll see a third one later in the season, I'm sure.

We were doing a mad-lib this afternoon, which Madison still likes doing.  She asks Daddy for the words, and he tries for the most random things he can, like "giant squid."  It takes a bit of thought and effort to make a good mad-lib!

Daddy was working on his message tomorrow, and Mommy made us dinner.  Tonight, we watched "Elf," which is another one of those Christmas movies you know practically every line for.  It's a nice movie though, filled with a sweet sentiment and Christmas cheer.

We read tonight before bed, and got to bed earlier.  We have a huge day tomorrow, and a wonderful week to follow.