I broke my holiday rule.

It's that time of the year when I start making excuses about why I'm an absent blogger: my school semester is winding down which equals a huge end-of-semester project, Camden's second birthday party is coming up in less than a week (!!), Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and then Christmas will follow closely on its heels. I guess they're not technically excuses when they're all real and legitimate reasons for being a tad overwhelmed, true?

While I typically believe in the don't-think-about-Christmas-until-after-Thanksgiving rule, I have broken it this year in two ways: we've almost finished Christmas shopping for Camden (must pause here for a shout out to Slickdeals, my savvy shopper husband, and Melissa & Doug toys) and I've been telling Camden all about Christmas and Santa every night at bedtime. I can't help it, you guys-- celebrating Christmas with a two-year-old is so much fun. Don't get me wrong-- it was fun last year, and the year before (seems weird that this will be Camden's 3rd Christmas even though he's only two), but this year is just extra special because Camden understands so much more and gets so excited just hearing about Santa Claus. When he's laying in bed at night, I tell him how we're going to put up a Christmas tree and decorate it while we dance to Christmas music (as far as I'm concerned, the cheesier the better when it comes to holidays), and how Santa is going to come to his house while he's sleeping and leave toys for him but only if we leave out cookies and milk for Santa's snack. And Camden's eyes get wider by the minute when I tell this story and he always smiles and asks for more when I'm done. I absolutely love experiencing the holidays through my son's eyes.

I will stand my ground about one holiday rule though: no decorations until after Thanksgiving. I have promised myself not to budge on that one, lest we end up being the neighbors with reindeer in our front yard on Veterans Day in the years to come.