Thinking about Christmas...a little too early!

My friend Nicole had this as her Facebook status the other day...

"Before we had R I used to get so mad when people skipped Thanksgiving and put out Christmas decorations. Now that I'm a mommy... I totally understand!!!"

Well, Nicole...we probably won't have many turkeys and pilgrims making their appearance at our house this year either!  Maybe by next year I will have stored up enough energy to reintroduce Thanksgiving into my fall decorating.

I was so proud of myself for decorating for fall and Halloween for the first time in forever!  I gave myself a couple of pats on the back for doing it on the cheap with dollar store finds.  As I was taking down the Halloween decorations and thinking about how I could keep some out and transition others to Thanksgiving, I just decided to put them all away and start fresh with Christmas.  Hence, why I just needed to copy and paste Nicole's status onto my own profile.

The fact that Thanksgiving dinner is not being held at my house helped me to get rid of any Mommy/hostess guilt for having reindeer replace turkeys.  It also has saved me from the embarrassment of friends and family discovering that plastic pumpkins have now become members of Cracker Jack's bedtime stuffed animal club.

So with guilt completely stored away, my mind is swarming with Christmas preparation and decorating ideas...

• Black Friday Shopping- I have NEVER, I repeat, NEVER gone shopping on Black Friday.  Paying full price has always won vs. getting up before dawn and fighting crowds.  Now with three little ones to buy for, I find myself addicted to this Black Friday site, and designing my game plan.
• Dollar Store Finds-While most of my Christmas decor survived the great purge, I am itching to see what I can whip up with some dollar store finds...stay tuned.
• Elf on the Shelf- Jer and I are beginning Christmas behavior modification this year with assistance from Elf on the Shelf.  While we are not using this actual Elf, this site is full of good resources for manipulating encouraging our children to behave during the holidays.  I have three little elves waiting for the festivities to begin right after Thanksgiving.
• Christmas Card Pics-This was the most difficult task for me to accomplish last year.  Getting even a good candid shot of a 4 year old and 10 month old was almost impossible.  I can't wait to see how fun it is to get a good shot of a 5 year old, 1 year old and 7 month old.  Prayers are needed.

Are you already thinking about Christmas?  What plans are you cooking up?