Its Christmastime and we have a few things to do and activities planned to get ready! First up is trimming the tree. As always each year the kids get to pick out a new ornament. Which I will keep for them until they move out and get a tree of their own. This way they won't have to start out new. When we were at Kohls one evening we went ahead and picked out the new ornaments. Tanner picked out a dragon from the movie "How to Train a Dragon". Tyler picked out an airplane and Tapanga a ballerina. Not really big surprises, but its their choice.
Susan was induced on the 4th and baby Jax was born early that morning so we went to the hospital to welcome him. We didn't stay long because it was the night of the Christmas parade. We invited Alex to come along and the boys had a great time running around and playing with him. They loved getting lots of candy and seeing all the cool floats also! Afterwards we went and got some dinner from Hooters.
Tyler and I went to Chick fil A for lunch one day and while there we got some cow Christmas hats, which the kids enjoyed wearing for a little bit.
For Christmas this year I invited mom and KG to come spend the night with us so that they could be here Christmas morning. This is something mom loves to do, but I had asked for them not to do last year. So, she was really happy about the invite this year (she cried). Well I decided to ask the in-laws if they wanted to come also. I asked mom if she would be ok with this first and they decided they would love to.
For Christmas Eve the last couple of years we had gone to Hananoki for dinner and of course we had to do that again this year, it is tradition after all! When we got out of dinner it was snowing! We headed to church for Christmas Eve service with my in-laws afterwards we all headed to our house. When we came out of church though the snow was really coming down and when we got home.
We still had to make our cookies for Santa, so we got to that right away and set the fresh cookies out that I am sure Santa enjoyed!
We couldn't forget the reindeer!
After the kids went to bed Grandma decided to style Grammies hair...what a thing to do on Christmas Eve!
Thomas was the first one up Christmas morning with the rest of us to follow pretty quickly. When I woke up Thomas gave me a present right away, he had one sitting by the bed for the last couple of days. He bought the family a new camcorder and wanted me to open right away so that we can use it right away, he had it charged up and everything!
The kids on the other hand were not so quick to wake up. Thomas and KG got tired of waiting for the kids to wake up, so they started going "HO HO HO". Until, Tanner finally got up and got Tyler and Tapanga up.
I had told my mother in law that we have Christmas morning "rules" and that it is not a free for all. Diann and Mike don't do stockings in their house, so "Santa" surprised them with stockings which they thought were pretty exciting!
The kids enjoyed Christmas morning, playing with their train set and palace play set and of course their pillow pets. Grandma did too, she got the NookColor book reader that she has been wanting for awhile. Grammie and Grandpa got a kick out of the tent that we got them.
I think the kids enjoyed having the grandparents stay the night and be a part of Christmas morning. And I know the grandparents enjoyed it. Mom said her best Christmas gift was being invited over. Best part of all was spending time together.
With all the excitement of Christmas, the kids didn't go outside to play in the Christmas snow. So the next day we decided to head outside and play. Tapanga didn't want to so the boys and I bundled up and headed outdoors where they got me with some snow balls and together we trudged down to the mailbox for the paper. Boy was it cold, but hot chocolate makes it all better!
