It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have been very busy getting ready for the holidays around here.  It has been so much fun this year as both girls have been so excited and having so much fun!

Last year my friend, Shana, posted the cutest pictures on her blog of her daughter, Lily, with her very own pink Christmas tree.  It was so cute that I knew that we'd have to do the same for Campbell this year.  Let me just say...it has been a hit.  Campbell loves her pink tree.  She and I had a great time shopping for ornaments and a star for the top.

We also took some of our leftover ornaments, some lights that we bought half off last year the day after Christmas, and a $1 star our friends and neighbors, the Popes, got for us at IKEA and decorated a tree in our front yard.  The girls love it probably more than the tree in our house.

We have a new visitor in our house this Christmas...Tinkerbell the Elf.  We jumped on the Elf on the Shelf bandwagon and it's been so much fun already.  The 1st sighting of Tinkerbell happened this week after Robbie had taken the girls to an Elf on the Shelf event at our local library.  She was sitting on the bed in Campbell's room when the girls went in there to get ready for bed and there were a bunch of presents from her to the girls (they open one each night) under the pink tree.  The girls (especially Campbell) have had so much fun every morning looking for her.

Here she is with her first gift for the girls!

Reading the book that she gave us...just happens to be the Elf on the Shelf

1st morning- silly Tinkerbell.  She took the star and ornaments off of Campbell's pink tree and put them on our tree and then visited with the Gingerbread Girl for a while :)

"Look! There she is!"

Tinkerbell got into Campbell's cereal



Hanging from Campbell's water cup that she keeps by her bed at night

Another new tradition we started this year was having the girls count their money in their piggy banks and take some to buy Christmas gifts for each other and donate some to charity.  Ok...I'll be honest, Campbell is the only girl doing it this year, but Maggie will join in next year when she can actually understand the concept. 

So, Campbell and I sorted and counted out her money. 

Then she and I went to Kohl's and picked out a gift.  She then took the gift and her baggie full of quarters to the cashier and paid for it herself.  She even carried her bag out to the car and then we wrapped it when we got home.

She then went and gave all of her dimes to the Toys for Tots. It was so sweet.