smells a lot like Christmas & other ramblings

My 3 year old started preschool after Thanksgiving. (I know, a bit late. But we had good reason, I promise). She could haaarrrrddly wait to put on her backpack & have her own teacher and classroom to head to in the morning after kissing her brother & father goodbye each morning. At first, she was distracted enough by being the oldest in the house & all the "yes-ing" I was handing out to her.  She must have told me thirty times the first week that she goes with daddy & carter in daddy's car to school in the morning. She LOVES it!
I'm enjoying three hours three times a week with just the baby (who sleeps for at least 1 of those hours). In the beginning I played the game: "see how much I can get done in those 3 hours without Lilah". As much as I love me some productivity, I quickly remembered I'd benefit greatly from at least half of the time spent as "me" time.
So this morning, I kissed them good-bye, lit the tea light beneath North Pole (the aroma is not overpowering but smells like you just opened the tin of peppermint bark) and lit up the Christmas tree.
Do you keep the Christmas tree aglow all day long while you're at home? Or just at night? 
If I'm home, it's lit.

I swaddled my sleepy baby & put her in bed. Among other pleasant time-wasters, I've enjoyed browsing fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net for today's best deals. All but 5 of my gifts have been bought online at deep discount with free shipping this year. I can't resist checking Groupon & Living Social. Still, the more I shop the more I'm sure we officially need nothing. 
This is the part of the morning when I realize I have just one hour left before I have to pick the pretty preschooler up and I regret that I was only partially productive and mostly indulgent and all I vow to make up for it in the next 60 minutes.... Pin It