While Santa doesn't visit our house.. his spirit lives during this time of the year.
I taught my children from a young age that Christmas time was a time of giving.. NOT expecting or even, in some cases, getting presents.
They volunteer their time (as well as I do) to the homeless shelters, food banks, clothing banks, nursing homes.. etc. Anywhere that needs a helping hand (we actually do this all year around but this time of the year it's done almost daily)
I do decorate.. and I probably over decorate by some peoples standards. But seeing the towns people drive by slowely.. taking pictures and smiling makes the work I do worth it.
We start decorating around the first of November.. lights and everything need to be in working order by the day after Thanksgiving.
Here are a few pictures of my house over the last few years.
I apologize for the quality of the pictures.. these are the only pictures I have available (I can't find the CD of the rest of the pictures)
This is 2003
This is 2004
This is this year
And here are a few pictures of the tree in the living room.... 2 of my kids are decorating. We have a larger tree in the den but I guess I don't have any pictures of it. I'll try to take some and post them later
