Merry Christmas to All!

Our Christmas was not "normal" but it was fantastic none-the-less! We woke up Christmas morning at my parents house. We all gathered in my parents' bedroom (like we did every Christmas morning when I was a kid) and listened to the Christmas story. We joined together singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

The kids waited on the stairs while Dad and Grandma got ready with cameras and video. They were so excited to see what Santa had brought and if he ate their cookies...

Macey got a new easle (which all three kids are LOVING!)...

Kinnick got a train table which he enjoys having in his room...

And Sadie was THRILLED to find this Rupunzel doll with matching dresses for her and Macey. Rupunzel now goes everywhere along with Sadie's bear, Emma.

The kids had so much fun opening and playing with their new presents:

They also loved digging into their stockings:

We had red & green donuts for breakfast and headed off to church. After church Jadyn and Jaren came over to play for awhile. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing with our new stuff. We ended our day with ice cream sundaes.

The day after Christmas we enjoyed some more family time with all of my brothers and sisters... more yummy food, more presents, more laughing and hugs.

Christmas Eve

We knew that we wouldn't be able to be in our new house by Christmas (we closed the week before and had LOTS of painting to do and carpet to replace)... SO we decided to spend Christmas this year at each of parents' houses. We started at Marc's parents. We made it there on the 23rd, later afternoon. We enjoyed dinner and games. On Christmas Eve we enjoyed opening presents with Marc's parents and sister. We also had a huge yummy Christmas lunch...

Playing some Christmas Carols with Aunt NeeNee:
Macey's new Minnie mouse sleep mat from Grandpa & Grandma--she LOVED this. I had to hide it when we got home b/c she wants to sleep with it every night.

Sadie's new bath robe from Aunt NeeNee...

We headed to Bowen Christmas Eve evening for church. Afterwards Jason & Trista's family came to my parents and we enjoyed some games and lots of yummy snacks.

The kids exchanged gifts with each other...

Grandma had extra-long licorice as a special treat!

The kids got to open their Christmas jammies at the beginning of December this year, but I saved their books for Christmas Eve. I loved getting Sadie one of my favorite Christmas books from when I was little.

And finally, the kids loved putting out cookies and milk for Santa:

Now the waiting begins...

25 Days... Part 2

Part 2 of our 25 Days of Christmas...

December 14: We ate popcorn and watched home videos of our past Christmases.
December 15: We went for a pajama drive to look at Christmas lights--with hot chocolate of course! We found an awesome display set to music.
December 16: Christmas Breakfast #3--Eggnog pancakes (Marc found this recipe and bought some eggnog so we could try it!)

December 17: We watched a Christmas movie together.

December 18: Family Gift #3... We got a family game, Pictureka (which is a huge hit--Kinnick is so good at it!)

December 19: We made S'mores over the fireplace.
December 20: Marc read "The Night Before Christmas" while we enjoyed cups of cocoa. (Hot chocolate seems to be a theme for our activities!)

December 21: We decorated a gingerbread house. (We actually had to postpone this activity a couple days and did them at Marc's parents' house.)

December 22: We made a birthday cake for Jesus. We made a red velvet cake with mint cream cheese frosting, LOTS of sprinkles and crushed candy canes. We took the cake with us to enjoy with our families on Christmas Eve/Christmas day.

December 23: Christmas Breakfast # 4--Cinnamon Rolls with red & green frosting...

December 24: We set out cookies and milk for Santa.

December 25: We started our morning by reading the Christmas story and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

Can't wait for next year!

See Part 1 Here.

Christmas Miscellaneous

This was the first snow (mid-December) that we had... not a lot, but enough to accumulate on the ground. Macey was fascinated by it! She pulled off her gloves and had to touch it. She was so excited to show me what she discovered.

Even though we didn't have "our tree" this year, we still had to hang our new ornaments up. Here's what we chose for the kids this year:

Sadie: LOVES going to the dentist and playing dentist--hope that trend continues!

Kinnick: LOVES all things superhero... too much sometimes. Batman and Spiderman are his favorites. Amazing how boys pick up on this stuff!

Macey: We still continue to call her our "sweet" girl. We get comments on others all the time about how sweet she is. She loves it when other adults pick her up (friends, family, strangers--it doesn't matter).

This year for gifts the kids helped me mix up a couple BIG batches of cocoa (recipe posted below--it's our favorite--we never buy cocoa anymore!) We made little goodie bags of cocoa and cookies for all their teachers at MOPS and at church. We also did bags for our small group.

We also helped with a Christmas party at Ms. Pearl's. It was at a local elementary school. We visited classrooms (with Santa) and passed out awesome treat bags--loaded with TONS of goodies. Sadie got to go with me for this while Kinnick and Macey hung out at the daycare.

For the party I volunteered to make cookies (not sure I thought that one through!) With some help from the kids we made about 230 cookies... sugar cookies with sprinkles, M&M cookies, and pb kiss cookies...

We are Homeowners!!!

As of Friday, December 16th we officially own our new home. We were so grateful to make it to closing day and get through closing day with no bumps. We had to have some repair work done on our water lines in order to get our water going... as of late last night we now have heat and running water--let the fun begin!! Lots of work to do, ripping out carpet & painting. We plan to move in right before New Year's or the first of January. More updates coming soon!

'11 Christmas Pictures