and the countdown begins...42 days until Christmas

Yesterday Alex and I spent a relaxing afternoon and evening with his parents and grandma, watching the football game and then having a nice visit in front of the fire place.

When it was time to go, Alex's dad appeared from the basement with these...


We were a bit confused since there is over a month to go until Christmas and we haven't even begun our shopping, so wrapped and labelled gifts were the furthest things from our minds...

They told us to take them home and open them today. They had bought the flatter one for Alex when he was 18 and didn't think he'd have any use for it at that point, but they decided he's ready for it now. The other one had a partner that was given to Grandma Ina....

This morning, we pretended Christmas came a little early...and it became very obvious why we got early Christmas presents...



So that we have these great new decorations in December when we decorate the house! Now I'm excited about Christmas (in case you didn't know...I LOVE CHRISTMAS!), but these guys are staying in their boxes for a few more weeks. I'm not sure where we're going to put them, so I have to do some thinking and creative reorganizing of our furniture. Suggestions?