It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Things have been getting a little more Christmasy around here the past couple of days as we get closer and closer to Christmas. It seems it took all of us a little longer this year to get into the Christmas spirit, but now we are in full swing around here... we even have a "john deere" Christmas tree in the downstairs family room, which is something I never thought I'd see in this house. LOL

Our family tree is up and decorated in the living room and most of the presents are wrapped and under the tree.

We are really missing Nikki & Sammi this year. Sammi was always so funny on Christmas morning. She knew she always got a new bone and she'd sit there waiting ever so patiently for it. Once she got it, she'd go chew on it for a while and then go back and sit, waiting for something else. Here's a picture of her last year. She just kept staring at me as if to say "ok, let's have it...where's my next present?" LOL Anyhow, as I said, we're missing Sammi & Nikki both this year, so I found these cute little angel dog ornaments and we got one bichon and one chow and have them on the tree in their memory.



We also have all our stockings up, although we don't have a mantle with our corn burner, so they are hanging in the front window instead:
Yes, there are more than just the 5 for us there. The 2 small red ones on the left are Gabby's & Molly's stockings. The two on the right belong to Ringo and one for Chelsea's boyfriend Clint. It's been a family joke since last year when someone kept calling him "Cliff" so we have the name Cliff on his stocking. LOL He will come over on Christmas night, so Santa will have a few things for him. :)

Then to top off our Christmas preparations, I "torutured" our poor dogs by putting a Santa hat on each of them. These pictures crack me up. I can almost hear what they are thinking:

Gabby: If you think it's so cute mom...why don't YOU wear the hat?

Molly: of all the families that could have adopted me,
I get the one that finds this cute?

Ringo: I've been around here long enough to know that if you
just sit still and let mom have her fun, she'll be done quicker.

We are planning to make a few goodies perhaps later today and tonight the weather is supposed to be bad, so I'm guessing a Christmas movie marathon complete with popcorn and hot chocolate sounds like a fun idea.