Christmas in October

Since we will be sailing when Christmas comes along this year I thought it would be a fun treat to surprise the family and celebrate Christmas in October.  A few good reasons for doing this are:  I have no extra storage room for gifts on the boat, we feel sailing is the main family gift this year, plus, this means I get to watch "Elf" before December hits!  On Saturday, October 15 I asked Doug to take the kids to the boat until 5 PM so I could put up the fake Christmas tree, decorate it with twinkle lights, make home made egg nog and gingerbread cookie batter, pull out some Christmas cd's, wrap gifts, and make a traditional Mexican meal of arrachera tacos. 

It all worked well and when Doug, Chandler, and Henry Wyatt arrived home we all enjoyed the surprise Christmas I hoped to give them.  We celebrated Christmas Eve that night by watching Elf after dinner and the kids slept under the Christmas tree in the living room while Doug and I slept downstairs in Chandler's room to be closer to the fun.  The next morning it really did feel like Christmas morning as we opened a few gifts before having a traditional turkey (well, chicken) and stuffing meal followed by gingerbread cookie baking.  My guess is we will long remember our Christmas in October.