Christmas time is here...

Our friends Doug and Mandy made this awesome gingerbread house and gave it to us to eat and "destroy." We enjoyed that thouroughly. The ornaments hanging from the chandelier were made with Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Gary after Thanksgiving. We hung them up there to dry and left them because we thought they were cute.


Christmas is a fun time for playdates while other kids are out of school and their Moms need to do some shopping.



Adam and Rosie had fun eating yogurt covered raisins at a little restaurant in Adam's room.


Christmas is also a fun time to receive packages...wonder what it could be?


Surprise! We get lots of boxes because online shopping is so great.


The morning of Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd) we did our candy train project, also a gift from Mandy and Doug. What a fun activity! The kids got to use the hot glue gun for the first time.




On Christmas Eve we had a hot chocolate party with Oreos.


We watched The Santa Clause.


Then we acted out the nativity which I only got video footage of and sat down for chocolate time at the tree. We love singing around the tree...and love the chocolates.


Then it was time to set out cookies for Santa and our stockings.


Adam was really excited that Santa was coming to our house, and wanted to stay up to meet him, so badly. Mom said no, and everyone went to bed.


Then Santa came!


And he brought Adam a Buzz Lightyear!


Rachel got her bunny!


And Sarah was happy for a candy cane filled with runts. The girls received fairy dolls and dresses together. All the kids were very excited this year about the presents they had purchased for each other. Sarah bought Adam a little motorcycle and Rachel a watch. Rachel bought Sarah a slinky and Adam silly string. Adam got Sarah a Barbie ice skating outfit and Rachel a Holly Shiftwell car. They were all thrilled with the success of their carefully chosen gifts. I'm glad they love each other so much.


Adam loaded his "new tuff" into his McQueen backpack, which made it really heavy, and as he tried to bend over to pick up more stuff...



He nearly toppled over. This repeated quite a few times. We were cracking up...silently. He was so happy when he finally got it all in his arms. He wanted to take everything up and put it away in his room right away. He loves a clean room, with all his "tuff" put away. (Though sometimes his definition of "away" is not in the right spot where Mom wants it. We find Mickey Mouse, toys the girls don't like him to have, and shoes in the dishwasher of his kitchen game often. Once I even found a baggie of moldy pancakes...we had a talk.)


We all had a nice time together. I have a lot of pictures in my mind that I guess never were captured on film. We were so rushed to get to church and I was stressed over playing for the choir and leading the song for the Primary kids. Notwithstanding Christmas was wonderful and we enjoyed all our special days together because they are so rare. One of my favorite things was pulling out "new" (hand-me-downed) games to play through the week leading up to Christmas. It helped the waiting not seem so long to the kids and made the season extra fun. We can't wait till next year. Adam is already asking when Christmas comes again and wondering if Santa is coming at his birthday.

No.