Christmas Happenings

We have had a BUSY Christmas season. We've had so much fun doing new and old traditions and visiting with lots of family. It has been a very blessed time for us. I thought I would do one big post for all the fun we had. So.... here we go!

We ended up getting our Christmas tree later than we normally do with being so busy but we did finally do it. It was probably early according to other people but I'm a crazy woman and I like things the way I want them. Christmas cards go out the day after Thanksgiving then we get the Christmas tree that Sunday and the house decorated. None of that happen in my time frame this year but I think I did pretty well with the change.

We didn't do a lot of traditions when I was young (especially with my dad) but one thing that we did do for many years was go out to cut down our own Christmas tree. I know with everyone "going green" these days it's probably not the best thing for us to kill a tree every year but well..... oh well I guess. Anyway, I remember running through the tree lot yelling for my dad at which one April and I wanted and then he would have to crawl down in the snow to cut it down. It was very cool to be able to go to the same lot that we went to when we were kids and this time Jack was the daddy that got to crawl around on the ground and cut the tree down.We got the tree on a Sunday and we had so much going on that it sat empty until Thursday because we just didn't have an evening to decorate it with the kids. The thing that was so neat about that is that we had started a new tradition this year of doing the advent calendar (with chocolates!!) and devotion book with the kids each night before bed and that Thursday's lesson was all about Christmas trees and why we have them. I love when things line up like that!!

They did a great job helping decorate this year.Doing the Advent calendar after decorating the tree

Another thing that was new for us this year was that Emma is old enough to be in our children's choir at church called The Love Notes. I also decided to help out with it this year. I got to be the choreographer which of course is so fun for an ex-cheerleader! We practiced every Wednesday night and a few Saturdays and everything came together perfectly. It was such a joy to sit and watch these kids work so hard to praise God. We had an amazing group of women that I got to team with to get this production rolling. I was very blessed to work with them.

The Nelsons did an amazing job making the set.I was so proud of how well the dancers did. (they are all staring at me)But of course I was mostly proud of my little star. Emma got to wear a star costumes with a few other girls and during the program there was a part where one of the angels says "How about Dancing With the Stars!!" and the little star girls came out and danced. It was very cute. The only downfall of the whole Love Notes program was that Emma got sick. The church had two services that day so there would be enough room for the visitors coming to watch. Emma did great during the first service but in between she started throwing up. My family came to the second service so they didn't get to see her. :( The good thing was that my mom was there and was able to take Emma home because I had to stay and direct the choreography for the second service. At least Grandma Mary got pictures at the first one!

Christmas Eve the kids were definitely READY for Christmas. I think they woke up with ants in their pants. They were running around the house like crazy people! Jackson literally ran so many laps down the hall and back that he could barely breathe! So, I decided that we needed an organized activity or mommy might just go postal! We had already planned to bake our birthday cake for Jesus so we figured since we already had the kitchen a mess, we might as well make some Christmas cookies. I had found a huge box of sugar cookie mix on clearance at Bailey's (gotta love Baileys!) a couple months ago so I pulled that out and we had a grand ol' time :) I had talked to Grandma Mary ealrier and she said she wanted to bake cookies so we invited her over to help us. Turns out neither Grandma Mary or I had really ever done this on our own and neither of us had cookie cutters. I thought she could help teach me and she came ready to learn! We all figured it out together :) Uncle Kevin ended up stopping by then Papa Tom got off work and came over so we had a little cookie party and were able to use the guys are guinea pigs.

Sneaking a taste of dough when they thought I wasn't looking.Grandma and the kids hard at work.Getting grumpy because it was past nap time so I thought I would joke with him and throw flour. He didn't think it was funny.The finished product.The other big thing that happen on Christmas Eve is that my dad turned 50. We don't get to celebrate his birthday in style very much with it being so close to Christmas but since it was a big one this year we all cleared our schedules and went out to the Bass Pro Shop for dinner. There was hardly anyone in the restaurant so we basically had our own little room with a big fireplace and lots of laughs. I just love to watch my dad with our kids. He is such a great grandpa, laughing and making up stories to get them going.

Dad and the kids decided to have a little dance party in the resturant.Papa and all the kidsOur whole fanily. The first picture ever.When we got home from our Bass Pro adventures it was time for bed. The kids put out some of those yummy cookies for Santa.

Christmas morning Emma ran straight to the table and saw the cookies missing and then made a mad dash over to see what Santa brought.I'm pretty sure this was the first Christmas morning we had ever had with just us and the kids. I think when Emma was just a few months old we had a Christmas morning in Michigan by ourselves but she wasn't very entertaining at three months old and we both really missed our families. It's so nice to be able to spend the time on our own and still be able to see everyone else without having to spend all of Christmas day in the car.

Jackson was excited about his new Thomas set.Emma loves her new Disney castle.Santa brought these fun balls to bounce on.We saw Jack's family for a little bit in the morning and then spent the rest of the day with my family. It was a wonderful time filled with wonderful people. We are truly blessed.