My home is a christmas wonderland right now. I even have lights strung up in the kitchen. One might think it a little excessive...but what is christmas if not excess. Isn't it horrible what christmas has become? It seems like it's all about presents and spending money. How do you teach your children to not be materialistic when we shower them with gifts for every little holiday? This year my kids are being spoiled!! Well, Livy is. It's her first REAL christmas. The last two she just kind of participated in. She didn't know how to open presents. She didn't understand the concept of Santa Claus, she was just there for the ride. This year...well...I think I'm more excited about it than she is. She loves to clean with me so she'll find a toy vaccum and a cleaning caddy with mop and broom just like mommy's under the tree. "Santa" is bringing a baby nursary a giant stack of coloring books and a bunch of hello kitty crap (Livy LOVES hello kitty). And since she asked santa for a princess wand, She's getting a ton of those too. Poor Emily, she's so little so there will only be a couple of really small wrapped gifts under the tree. It's mainly for Livy's benifit. We want her to know that Emily gets presents too. I'm totally spoiling Mike this year. I bought him a painting to hang in his office, a movie he really wanted and a couple of other stuff. To top it all off, I found his college sorority jersey and had it framed. He's going to love it. Well, I need to get the kiddos up. Mama has an appt. this morning and I need to get them to Nana's.