Christmas Morning Santa Presents & Stockings

Christmas morning started bright and early. The boys were up by 5:15 but they had to wait for Parker and Emma to wake up. They were all up and ready to see what Santa brought by 5:40. They were so excited!!! 

Santa brought the kids new razor scooters, new pillow pets, and exactly what they asked for on their letter to Santa. The kids were all shocked Santa brought just what they asked for. Stockings are a big deal in our house. I have always loved opening stockings the most. The kids all loved everything Santa filled their stocking with. It was a very fun Christmas morning. After stockings, I made breakfast while the kids played.

Merry Christmas Eve

I love these group photos I got of the kids. Christmas Eve was spent relaxing and answering the question, "When will Santa be here?" about a 1,000 times. They were all so excited and bouncing off the walls. Before bed we read The Night Before Christmas, watched Prep and Landing, and put out a plate of cookies, carrots and hot cocoa. The kids were in bed at 6:50 and asleep by 7:00pm.

Christmas Eve Photos

The kids were pretty cooperative and let me take some pictures on Christmas Eve. I love their Christmas pj's this year and they loved our new Disney Christmas characters. With all the excitement of Christmas Eve, I was very surprised I got so many great shots.

Decorating Cookies for Santa

On Sunday before Christmas I baked a couple dozen sugar cookies and made some very yummy buttercream frosting. We took all our cookie decorating supplies over to the McMillan's for cookie decorating and dinner. The kids all had so much fun decorating the cookies. They all turned out so pretty. Santa will be very lucky when he stops at our houses.

Early Christmas Present- A New Tripod

Josh gave me an early Christmas present, a new tripod. I was so excited! It was just what I needed to take these pictures at nighttime. The kids were all being super silly and goofy. Trying to get them to hold still was nearly impossible. But I think these turned out so cute with their smiles!

Christmas Photo Shoot Attempt at White Beach

Finally I got around to attempting our 1st Christmas photo shoot. I have really fallen behind this year. I really liked how a few of these turned out. We had a great afternoon at White Beach walking around, looking for shells, and laughing around like dorks. Merry Christmas!

Yes, Josh and I can be the biggest dorks, hehehehe, Merry Christmas!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeers

My little reindeer, looking so cute!

December Update

After returning from my trip to the States to say good bye to the sweetest grandfather in the world, I have returned home with a terrible cold that won't go away. Unfortunately, this years countdown will not go on as planned. We are still reading our books every night and doing projects here and there. I am choosing to spend more time with my kiddos and less time blogging our fun. While the kids are a little disappointed, we are still enjoying this Christmas season. I hope to get some Christmas pictures taken this week, just trying to find the energy.

Thanks for stopping by.

25 Days of Christmas Countdown Postponed

I am going back to Portland for a family emergency. Blog and Christmas Countdown will be postponed until I get back next week.

25 Days of Christmas Countdown- Day 2

Today was another very rainy day. The kids worked on their letters to Santa. They took the project very seriously. They also loved learning that you can now take a picture of your Santa letter project and email it directly to Santa. They were worried it wouldn't get to Santa in time, but of course email is instant so no worries. I think this years letters turned out very cute. We watched Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas while working on our letters and read Mickey Saves Santa at bedtime.

For our special treat we made pretzel kisses. They were very easy to make and the kids enjoyed helping. They all loved them, even Carson! I was a little worried about the pretzel addition. This is a great quick and easy treat. (Preheat oven to 200, place 1 hersey kiss on top of pretzel, bake for 5-6 minutes, then push an M&M down the center)

(Link to Main 25 Days of Christmas Post 2012, 2011)