Merry Christmas! Here are the cookies and milk for Santa and his reindeer. The jar with the red lid is magic dust and oats - we sprinkle the mixture on our lawn so Santa knows where to land his sleigh and the reindeer can eat the oats. The key is for Santa since our home doesn't have a fireplace. These are very important things to have! :)
Our tree, with the presents underneath . . . I love this picture. It represents hope and joy, unexpected surprises and fun . . . everything Christmas holds. This year, more than any other, we really scaled back. As a mother, who wants to be able to give everything to her kids, there were times, I felt like I hadn't done enough. But they didn't notice a bit, and I don't want Christmas to be just about the presents. Last year, I felt like they didn't even really check out the present they were opening, they just went to the next present. So I found a great article, a game we played, getting ready for Christmas. Every time they opened a present, they said "Thank you" to the gift giver, and after opening the present, they had to say at least one nice thing about the gift. We played at home, finding anything around the house, putting it in a bag and "giving" it to each other. They really liked the game and it was great practice for Christmas. My munchkins have so much, I hope they know it's fun to get the presents, but Christmas is about family, love, and giving - to others. It's a work in progress, I know, we'll get there someday! :)
Coming down the stairs, seeing the presents.
Little La la, on her way down . . .
This was Karsten's big present from Santa, a huge dinosaur; this dinosaur has a remote control to make it walk, eat, growl, roar. Every year, a dinosaur makes it on to K's list. He loves them!
Bad picture of Ella and her Santa gift . . . she got all the Disney princesses in Barbie form. Yeah!
This was so awesome! K had made a present for us at school. He snuck it home, hid it in his room, and put it under the tree - ALL BY HIMSELF! I seriously had no idea that he had done this. Mark said he saw him bring it home, but didn't see it after that day. What an amazing kid, he held onto it for over a week, and remembered to bring it to us. This was the best present ever!
Thank you, Cece! This is the cutest purse, that has Ella's name in rhinestones on it from my wonderful friend Cece. So sweet of her to think of my little ones this holiday season! They loved each of their gifts!
Miss Ava. I got Ava her first baby doll and stroller. No picture of that, because my little niece is obsessed with shoes, and she wanted to put her new shoes on!!!
Off to the Gleason's . . .
Me-la and Ava
Amy and Megan
Me ad my Love.
The next generation! Ava, Ella and Isabella. It's so great, the next generation of cousins really love to play together. They look forward to the family gatherings as much as we do now! What's scary is that Ella looks like the ringleader! AAAHHHHH!
Shauna and baby Jon
Ella, Isabella, Jon (Isabella and Jon are siblings). Do you see how Ella's pants are unbuttoned? She always has them that way! It cracks me up. Speaking of cracks, that may be the reason her's is always showing . . .
Scooters! Nana and Papa (my g-parents) got all the kids scooters this year. It was so great, they all loved them and they got to play with them at the party.
Picnic Christmas dinner!
With all the craziness in the morning, we forgot to do the Stockings! So when we got home, the kids opened them.
It was a really fun Christmas, we were definitely busy, but everywhere we went, we had a great time, and shared a lot of love and happiness. I hope Christmas brought the same for all of you! xoxo
