Christmas Celebrations

Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve, we went to the Hahn's for brunch.  We had delicious mush,cinnamon rolls, sausage, and fruit.  We came home for naps and spent the evening at home playing with the new presents.



Em was always ready to open presents.



It was nice to have Uncle Nate home!

The kids opening their stockings.

Grandparents opening their snowmen handprints.

Putting out cookies, milk, carrots for the reindeer, and a bag of sippy cups for Santa to take to needy children! :)

Christmas Day

Christmas was a little tricky this year since it was on a Sunday. The kids were up and wanted to open their stockings right away.  Then we had church and a party at mom and dad's in the afternoon.  The kids rested at my parents and were actually pretty good, despite all of the busyness.

Every gift Landon opened came with the words: "This is just what I wanted!" 
Em started to copy him, especially when she got her very own chapstick!!

Landon likes his new remote control car.

Emmy likes singing karoke on her new Hello Kitty machine.

All dressed up for Christmas

Both kids look happy!  Hooray!!

Christmas 2 Days Later

We hosted the Bergers and Clarks at our house on the 27th.  We had lasagna, opened presents, and played Trivial Pursuit.

Dad and Mom opening the snowmen fingerprints.

The kids playing with their new kitchen from Steven and Kristina
(and it only took 40 minutes to put together! :))

We hope you enjoyed your Christmas Celebrations as well and tried to keep in mind the real reason we celebrate.  We did do a couple renditions of "Happy Birthday to Jesus" to help the kids realize why we celebrate!

Pre-Christmas Fun!

We had a blast this year with the kids at Christmas!  For the first time, they really started to understand Christmas.  Landon enjoyed counting down the days until Christmas and Emmy changed our Advent calendar each day.  We planned some fun activities for the kids before the big day.

We watched "The Grinch" and had popcorn one evening.

We went to the Davis' house for our annual Friend Christmas

Both kids enjoyed decorating cookies for Santa.

All of the kids (except Kenna :)) did a great job with the frosting and the cookies had an abundance of sprinkles!

The finished product...I'm sure Santa enjoyed the cookies!

The kids had a great time painting their fingerprint snowman. 
Gotta love pinterest! (http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/12/hand-print-snowman-ornaments.html)

Our Little Angels

Sunday was our children's Christmas Program at church and basically everyone was an angel. Landon and Emmy were baby angels and did an AWESOME job (especially compared to last year when Landon burst into tears and ran off the stage crying!! :)). Em was content to watch all the big kids do the motions, while Landon had a hayday with the microphone and trying to stand on the "X's" on the stage.  Tyler and Grace were also in the play.  They each had lines to memorize and did a great job, too!  Tyler can be seen in the row behind our kids, but Grace was way on the other end.

The little angels each had a number to hold up for a song.  Landon could be heard saying, "No, I don't want that one!" when handed 2.  He wanted 3 so he rearranged himself after Emmy so he could be in 3rd place.

Landon trying to stand on the X's on stage.

Papa H. was a Wise Man....in the play!

Em wanted to get closer to Baby Jesus, the real meaning of the Season!

Christmas Tree

This year the kids got really excited about the tree.  Every year we go pick out a tree at the Christmas Tree Farm (Wilfong's), but this is the first year that they were really happy about it.  The tree selection was a little sparse because they are getting ready to retire from the tree business.  I think we found a good one, though!

Just a little snow left (mostly mud!)

Yes, Em did eat some snow before we could stop her!

Tree is a little short, but white pine is the best!!

Emmy wanted to decorate as soon as we got home, and it about drove her crazy that she had to wait to "tut baws on tee," as she said.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year was a bittersweet time for our family.  It was so nice to be able to get together with extended family (Nate, Steven, and Kristina were all home), but we also had to say goodbye to my dad's oldest brother, Dave, who passed away right before Thanksgiving.  Throughout the whole Thanksgiving break, I was reminded about all of the wonderful blessings God has given me and my family.  Dave's passing has also helped me remember not to take my family for granted.

Before the holiday, the kids and I worked on a Thanksgiving project.  I had done these with my kids at school and I thought my kids would like them.  We made turkey hats using construction paper, cotton balls, and feathers.  Emmy discovered that she loves scissors and Landon took to the glue.  We got a little messy, but had a good time!