December merriment

At the beginning of December, we traded in our Thanksgiving tree for our Christmas tree, hooray!

Busting out the holiday decorations was a family affair - the boys were very happy to be reunited with their Little People Nativity Set.

They were also delighted to be in charge of hanging the ornaments.

In this set of pictures Clyde decides that when it comes to smiling for the camera, if you can't beat them, join them.

And then give them the Heimlich.

It was at this point the boys decided they were done hanging ornaments for a bit, so we plugged in the lights to discover that only half of them worked - coincidentally, the bottom half. It was quite a sight. . . that Chuck and I opted to rectify by adding (working!) lights and ornaments to the top half of the tree as well :).

For Family Home Evening a couple of nights later, the boys reconvened to set up the train. Clyde was quite hands-on (probably too much so at times) while Will opted to provide moral support.

I think it's pretty customary for train conductors to hug in greeting when they meet.

SUCH happy little conductors when the train was all set up and ready to chug!

Here's Clyde deftly navigating the train through a tunnel.

The new baby got in on the train action too, happily kicking and rolling around as the train whirled by, (as always) paying little attention to my comfort levels.

And finally, here is our oh-so-festive bookcase . . .

and our carefully hung stockings!
(post-edit: to assuage Chelsey's guilt and anyone else's - I did not make these stockings. At all. They are the amazing handiwork of Grandma Pam!!)

And now we're just waiting for two chubby fellows to grace our home with their presences!! (And yes, I know there's a pun somewhere there involving 'presents' but it's too early in the morning and I'm too pregnant to figure it out. Feel free to offer your suggestions in the comments).