A White Christmas

Snow on Christmas is very rare around here. My grandparents live in a place where they get a little more than we do, but not that much and rarely on Christmas. It snowed Christmas Eve but we got there too late for the kids to play in it, but they were excited to see that the snow was still there when they woke up Christmas day!

Christmas Day

We had a interesting Christmas. It started to snow on Christmas Eve just as we were leaving for Abilene to see my grandparents. We did not think it would be a problem for the roads since it had been 75 the day before! By the time we had been on the road for an hour or so we noticed that it was sticking to the roads and they were slippery. We made the decision to keep on driving, probably not the best decision. It took us about 10 hours to make a 4 hour trip, the freeway was shut down so we had to take back roads, some of the drive was done at 20 mph while cars around us were slipping and sliding. Kim knows how to drive in it but the rest of Texas seemed pretty clueless. It was scary to see how many cars nearly slid into us. Once we got there the kids had a blast playing in the snow and opening gifts on Christmas day. It was great spending Christmas with so much of my family, and it was great to have a white Christmas, but the drive was so stressful.

Everyone in their Christmas PJ's in front of our tree


Brady loved Christmas breakfast!

Heard Museum Trail of Lights

It was dark so I could not get great pics. The Heard Museum still had out their dino display, plus had the whole trail lit up and free hot chocolate. The kids loved that the dinos had Santa hats on and that they were able to pet a snake (yuck). I'm glad that the kids had a good time.

Making Cookies

Brady's first cookie- he liked it of course

Santa

Santa was at our church Christmas breakfast this morning!

Someone thought he was scary.


Kaleb thought he was nice, Logan would stand next to him if Kim was there, Alanna would not go near him, and Ross is at Grandma's.

Gingerbread House Tradition

A favorite at our house every Christmas. . .

Merry Christmas!

This year we were home Christmas morning which is not usual. We had a great time opening the gifts and then gorging ourselves on a huge breakfast. The kids had a great day, but Kim and I felt like we spent most of the day in the kitchen making food and cleaning it up. I know that is mostly my fault since I wanted to have a big breakfast and a traditional Christmas dinner. The food was yummy and the kids seemed to have had a great day. Now the spoiled little turkeys get to go open more gifts at my grandparents tomorrow.

The "loot" under the tree:


The main gift for Ross and Kaleb. They were so excited.


Logan wearing his new shirt and holding his favorite gift. It is funny how many of my kids at that age picked one gift that was their favorite and hardly touched anything else.

Cookies!!

Since Kim has to work this morning, we passed the time making cookies for Santa. I cheated and used sugar cookie mix (add butter and an egg, love it!, the rolling out and cutting part is the real fun anyway). But I did make yummy homemade frosting to decorate them with. After a few arguments and one time out, everyone decided to get along and have a good time. They each decorated a plateful and ate 2, so everyone is significantly sugared up now to enjoy the rest of Christmas Eve. We hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Another Tradition

Another tradition we look forward to every Christmas is driving through a light display up in Denison. We go out to dinner and then we drive through this park. The park is filled with displays like this, it is really fun and FREE! Last year Alanna and Logan fell asleep so this year it was really new to them. Logan loved it because they had displays of his favorite things- Santa on an airplane, a train, and a gingerbread house. He ooh-ed and aah-ed the whole time. It was fun.

Gingerbread Night

One of our Christmas traditions is to decorate gingerbread men (and then eat them right away), make gingerbread houses, and drink eggnog (homemade, and I don't add the eggs because I refuse to eat them raw, it is YUMMY!!). WE have so much fun every year.







He said this was "Darth Vader's house". He did all the decorating (and ate a little too)


Logan loved the eggnog.

Christmas Parade

I took the kids to our little town's Christmas parade on Saturday. I am ashamed to admit that I have never gone the whole time we have lived here. I am a wimp about the cold and I figured our town was so small that it would not be worth it. This year Alanna's dance studio had a float in the parade so she wanted to go and ride on it.

The theme was "Toyland". Here is the float Alanna got to ride on. She had a great time.


Logan's favorite part. The boys were not too excited about going until I told them everyone throws out candy. Now that they have seen what it is like I am sure I will be talked into making this a Christmas tradition. We were at the beginning of the route so they came home with a whole bag of candy, shirts, and even a Hot Wheels car!


The boys waiting for the parade to start. It was a chilly day so they waited here until it started. Once the candy started flying they forgot how cold they were.

Church Christmas Party

Santa came to our church Christmas party last night. Ross was happy to give Santa his gigantic list of wishes (so much that Santa told him that was a lot to ask for, NICE). Kaleb told him a few things but shortened his list because he actually noticed the gigantic line of kids behind him. They both humored me with a picture. My 2 brave youngest would not go anywhere near him. Logan wanted the candy cane Santa was giving out but not enough to go close to him. Kaleb was sweet and shared with him. That is the kind of brother Kaleb is. Alanna stayed on the opposite side of the room the entire time. Kids are so funny!

Christmas Survey

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? paper for the kids, bags for the "elders"

2. Real tree or Artificial? our first Christmas Kim and I killed 3 trees, after decorating and redecorating all those times we decided fake was the way to go

3. When do you put up the tree? weekend after Thanksgiving!

4. When do you take the tree down? around New Year's Day

5. Do you like eggnog? only my homemade kind

6. Favorite gift received as a child? probably my TV- Kaleb has it in his room now!

7. Hardest person to buy for? Kim, he buys whatever he wants throughout the year

8. Easiest person to buy for? Alanna- if it is girly she will like it

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, the Willow set (thanks to my mil!) and Little People

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail, that is the kind I like to get in return (with pictures)

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? tight cowgirl jeans (don't tell Kim), Sesame Street underwear from my great grandmother when I was 12!!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation- Kim and I watch it every year

13.When do you start shopping? a little throughout the year, mostly in October-December

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? homemade fudge, Jessica's peanut butter balls, sugar cookies

16. Lights on the tree? white with colored bubble lights

17. Favorite Christmas song? What Child Is This?

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? usually travel but this year Kim works the 24th and 26th so we won't be traveling until the weekend after

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? I think so

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? light up star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? depends on if we travel or not, this year it will be Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? it really bothers me that the stores want to start Christmas before we had a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Hallmark and homemade

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ham and all the fixins, Christmas Eve will probably be take-out

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? money to pay for the baby, cute jacket, kitchen stuff

Christmas Twice

Christmas at my grandparents. . . opening their stockings



The kids love that they get to have Christmas at my grandparents, then come home and Santa came here too. Good grief. It is really fun though. Their excited faces make it all worth it.

Gingerbread Houses

We have an annual tradition of making gingerbread houses with the kids. We started it when Ross was a baby. We help them build the houses, then they get to do all the decorating they want to. I think they eat as much candy as they put on their houses, but they sure look forward to it every Christmas! We also drink eggless eggnog while we work. It is yummy that way, and we have so much fun.

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday our elementary school did a fundraiser where the kids got to have breakfast with Santa. We thought it would be really fun and a great way for the kids to see Santa without having to stand in a long line at the mall. We got there right when it started and it was not crowded. The kids wanted to eat first since it started at 9am and they had already been awake for 2 hours. After their healthy breakfast of donuts and chocolate milk we noticed Santa had nobody waiting to talk to him. The boys ran up and climbed up on his lap, Alanna clung to me, and Logan was fine until he turned around a saw him and then he screamed. Of course,I wanted a picture anyway. Well, lucky me the camera malfunctions, then Logan escaped and ran off, then I turn around and there is a line a mile long laughing at us because we are trying to get a decent picture of our 4 little kids with Santa- yeah, right. So Kim quickly fixed the camera and snapped what he could, most of them turned out blurry but we got an okay candid shot of the boys telling Santa what they wanted. The boys were mad because they did not have time to finish telling Santa ALL the stuff they want. Does it ever feel like you are the only mom whose children want a million things and other kids are saying one item or asking for stuff for poor kids because they have enough already?? Not my kids. It was a fun breakfast anyway.

Not much here. . .

Not much has been going on this week. I've been working on Christmas stuff a little every day- so far Christmas pictures are done, cards are halfway done, shopping is halfway done, nothing is wrapped, I put some outside lights out during nap time (I'll have to see if they actually look okay tonight), the tree is not up, and holiday baking ingredients are purchased. I guess I am having trouble getting in the mood since the weather can't seem to decide if it is December or April. The kids are definitely in the Christmas mood, it is fun to see them so excited about everything. On Friday we are going to see Santa, then Saturday is MY day. I am going to go Christmas shopping, then scrapbooking with friends. I'm looking forward to it already!

Christmas Card Attempts

Tonight I dressed the kids up in their Children's Place coordinating PJ's to do Christmas card pictures. Here are some of the not-so-bad ones that I got, un-edited (in the final one I am going to try to cut out some of the couch and wall). Believe it or not, the best one and the picture I am going to use in my cards was taken on the first shot! Sorry, it can't be revealed here since it will be in my Christmas cards HAHA. I had a great time finding these pajamas, I usually have them dressed up in the Christmas card pictures, so it was fun to try something different. Oh, and my friend Misti suggested the gift boxes for distraction and to get some action shots. It worked great.