looking forward

I am really starting to get excited about the upcoming holidays. Thanksgiving in a week and a half, then Advent season leading to Christmas! It is getting exciting! I don't know exactly what I'm so looking forward to. A big part is that I enjoy spending time with Grant as well as family and friends.

It might be because this weekend I began some little Christmas shopping, as I had some coupons for a couple stores. In Grant's family, we've each drawn two names - one for a stocking, and the other for a gift exchange. It is our first year drawing for the gift exchange as well as stocking. I have had to think a lot about what to buy, as it is the only present I'm buying for his family members. It is a surprise as to who we each drew, so I've had to be secretive about my brainstorming for gift ideas. In my family, we'll draw for stockings at Thanskgiving. Instead of gifts, we have adopted a family of 7 through the Salvation Ar*my. We then split up the assignments. Grant and I bought an outfit for a 3 year old boy as well as some matchb*x cars for him. We also will give a gift card to a local grocery store for their holiday meal. If you're in the KC area, it was VERY easy to adopt the family. http://www.kudl.com is the spot to go - you sign up and give your preferences online, and in a couple days you get a list of who your family is! I recommend it so far.

I also might be excited because I ordered our Christmas card from a seller on etsy. I just bought the .jpeg so we can print it ourselves. We will probably use that to e-mail to most people, but send it to family. It is pretty fun, so I'll put it up here when it is closer to the holiday! Grant has been playing some Christmas tunes as well on the piano, which gets the spirit up as well!

Have a good week!
-Caroline