Only a Week to Go!

It's the fourth Sunday of Advent, and that means Christmas is almost here! I can't believe it's only a week away. Our youngest son is home now, and sons 2, 3, and 4 will be arriving on the 23rd. (We will not see our oldest son, his wife, and our twin granddaughters until we meet up with them at my husband's family home in Upstate NY the day after Christmas.)

My husband spent a whole afternoon a few weeks ago putting Christmas lights up along the roofline of our two-story Colonial. This is not an easy job--and it really shouldn't be a one-man job, either; but it was, since we've lost our work crew and are now empty-nesters. (I tell ya, we really miss those boys!) No sooner were the lights up, when we had an incredibly windy day and they were blown right off the house. "I'm not doing that again," my guy said, and I was actually glad about that. It makes me extremely nervous seeing him up there on that extension ladder. When Clark Griswold has mishaps on a ladder, it's hilarious; but I have no desire to see scenes from "Christmas Vacation" re-enacted in my front yard.

Not long after we lost our lights, we took a drive with our #2 son to check out a house so decked out with lights and decorations that you'd have to see it to believe it (for more on this, see my Dec. 12 post, "Clark W. Griswold, Eat Your Heart Out!"). And after seeing that Christmas wonderland, we said, "Wow. We really have to do something to show our Christmas spirit." So look what we got: For years, my husband and I have wanted to get an oversized outdoor Nativity set like this one, but they are usually prohibitively expensive. Several times, we've tried to pick one up on clearance during the after-Christmas sales, but they're always gone by the time we get there. But in spite of the expense, my husband told me that I could go to our wholesale club and get the Nativity I'd been admiring. He had decided that from now on, that--rather than just lights--should be the focus of our exterior Christmas decor.

Well, it was meant to be, I guess; because when I went the very next day to buy the Nativity, there was only one left and it had been marked down to half price. I was so excited! My husband plans to build a creche for it, eventually, and then we'll have a spotlight shining on it so that it can be easily seen from the street. But I just love this Nativity! And I'm so happy that with only one week to go until Christmas, we have this beautiful reminder of the reason for the season on display in front of our house.