It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - Part I

Yes - the tree is up and providing a cozy napping spot for the kitties, the house is decorated with garland and lights and just a few Christmas trinkets, beautiful photo cards are hung with care on the wall so as to remind us of all of our fabulous friends and family we know and love, and my morning coffee is always in my Christmas china mug! There have been little treats and gifts coming and going for weeks now, the ipods are chock full of holiday music and we've already celebrated at four Christmas parties! The top of the piano is covered in pretty presents (out of reach of the dog!) and Zack the elf has been keeping a keen eye on all goings on at the house! Our favorite holiday is less than a week away and we are certainly in the spirit here at home...

As for our elf of the shelf, Zack - 

he had started the season well... hanging out around the house eating marshmallows:

But then he thought he'd go for a ride on the toy train and he fell off! - so he showed up the next day with a bandage on his head!

And then a couple days later he apparently looked at Gabe the wrong way and we had to rescue him from a snow bank in the back yard and give him a nice, warm blanket to dry off on:

And a few days after that, we almost lost Zack for good. Not sure if Gabe thought Zack wanted to play or if Zack was taunting the dog with his cheeky little grin... regardless, he ended up outside again but sustained some more serious injuries this time!

Santa said the cast would have to stay on until after Christmas... we're hoping for a  full recovery!

More to come... we just got hit with a big snow, so it really is starting to look a lot like Christmas!