Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like....

Well, Christmas.

Now I know that over the past few years it seems as if the stores have sort of started to skip over Thanksgiving completely and are going straight from 4th of July Halloween to Christmas, but I think there's a reason for this.

People are shopping for gifts earlier. The economy has created a situation where very many people simply cannot afford to do all their shopping during the four-week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Add to that the expense of holiday travel and it makes even more sense that we want to start shopping earlier and spreading out the hurt a little bit.

With that being said, I personally think its incredibly hard to get in the mood to Christmas shop without Christmas decor splashed all over the stores. I mean, nothing says "Happy Holidays!" like eating a pound of leftover Halloween candy and then hitting the big box stores, now does it?

But seriously, I am finding myself shopping for Christmas gifts online more than I ever have. Partly because we live far away from family and will be flying to see them, and partly because there is really nothing worse than trying to execute an all-day shopping marathon with a whiny toddler repeatedly asking if she can "walk" through the aisles of Tarjay. {No, you may not walk AJ, because then I'll spend the next 17 hours cleaning up all the things you pull off the shelves.}

Not to mention the fact that when shopping online one can still take advantage of not just Black Friday sales, but Cyber Monday sales as well! Talk about convenient. I can sit on my couch, in my jammies and use "one-click ordering" (Thank you, Amazon!) and its done. I never even need to think about throwing 'bows to get to the hot item of the season!

With that being said, AJ's first Christmas gift was delivered to our house yesterday, thanks to my little brother!

Can you guess what it is?

I'm so excited to put it together and have it waiting for her under the tree on Christmas morning!

P.S. I really like Christmas, so the longer the season, the better, I say! D used to get mad because when asked what my favorite holiday was I'd always answer "Thanksgiving. Because it starts the Christmas season." :P

P.S. Again- I may or may not have attempted to start decorating our house for Christmas this week, only to discover that my hubby is one-step ahead of me and hid all our decorations in the attic. He ruins everything. ;)