why i am putting my christmas village up on christmas eve

    My favorite christmas decoration is my village. I started building it right before I  got pregnant with Eli and in 5 years it has gotten huge.   It looks like the town i would want to live in, with a gazebo and horse drawn carriages and kids sledding down the hill behind the church.  It's lovely and so involved to put together.  This year, with a baby crawling and eating everything in his path, I decided to simplify our holiday and opted not to put up the village.  However, Nate and Josh came home last weekend and said " oh you didn't do the village"  and I explained and they agreed. And Keith said to me last night "I'm kind of disappointed you didn't put the village up"  and I realized that I missed Eli's delight and Sam has never seen it and it's his first christmas. So, on christmas eve I will be putting up my village.  As the only female in the house it falls upon me to add the woman's touch to the house, and I love pretty things that are soft and feminine. I never thought that my boisterous boys ever noticed the quilts hung on the wall and the candles. And I never thought that the village was for anyone but me.  I realize now that they might not notice them but they certainly would miss them if they were gone.  This makes me happy and so i'm happy to set this huge thing up on the busiest night of the month.  I guess it would have simpified things to have put it up  3 weeks ago, but you know, hindsight is 20/20!