Christmas is in the Air

First day of our Jesse Tree; Dec 1st 2009.

Well, sort of.  It is 96* inside my house at 9pm, and there are definitely no Christmas decorations going up around our city anytime soon (or ever), but I can pretend right?!  "Christmas is in the air" of my heart...or something like that.

The Christmas season is approaching and if you are like me, and love to give gifts, you are already plotting and maybe even purchasing (or have been stock-piling for a while now) some gifts. 

Last year I read about the Advent Conspiracy.  I thought it was a good idea and a great reminder of what Christmas is really about.  We scaled down a lot last year, which I admit, was so much easier to do from this side of the world.  Though we greatly missed our family last year, we really enjoyed making new family traditions, just the five of us. One of my favorite new traditions was doing the Jesse Tree for advent.  It is a great way to keep His story at the center of the holiday.

I also just read this great blog post on wonderful gift giving ideas that reach beyond us (as the gift-givers and gift-receivers) to the world around us.  Brittany has some really good ideas and you should check them out. 

What are some of your family holiday traditions?  Do you have some new ones you are thinking about trying this year?

Thinking Christmas,