Christmas Eve

We started off the day making our sugar cookies! I love the bed head/jammie look going on with these two :) Brooke had actually helped me make the dough the night before, but we rolled them out together that morning. Making and decorating sugar cookies is one of my favorite holiday traditions, and I'm pretty sure that my kids love it just as much as I do. 

We were hosting this year, and since Kevin had to work a half-day, I did as much of the prep beforehand as possible.  I can't remember why Colby went to bed early, but Brooke, Kevin, and I stayed up late adding the leaves to our table and getting everything set just the way we wanted it.  I love seeing our red dishes on the table and the cheer it brings to the dining room.  When we purchased this table, we talked about the day that it would be full of family and friends for things like holidays.  Now, we fill that table each time we have a family meal.  This year, Uncle Tom and Robert were also joining us, so Brooke made sure to make a name card for each place setting.

The roasts and carrots were in the crockpot, the table was set, appetizers were ready, and we had time to hang out together before Kevin came home to us.

This is definitely NOT a good picture of me, but I was excited that Brooke actually wanted to match, so I let Colby take the picture.

Everyone arrived about 2 PM and we chatted and ate snacks until taking a family picture.  Jerry and Bev were gifting Tom and Robert some new pictures frames for their house, and they thought it would be fun to do a group picture.  Tom and Robert live together, but I think it's a little lonely for both of them. When they were here a few years ago for Thanksgiving, I helped Tom create an Instagram account so he could keep up with Melanie and I and our kiddos.  He comments at times, but Bev has told me how much Tom loves seeing what the kids are up to.  He is always complimenting our mothering and it gives him and Bev something to talk about.  I don't know if he'll ever have grandkids, so he's living vicariously through his great nieces and nephew :)

Dinner pictures are always a little funny, but there was a lot of love around the table.  Kevin did a nice job thanking everyone for coming to our home and spending the afternoon with us.  It really is such a blessing to be able to host a meal in the comfort of your own home.

After dinner, we played carols with our pipe chimes.  Colby needed reminders when it was his turn to play a note, but overall, the kids are getting pretty good!  I think Tom and Robert enjoyed being part of that tradition, and then Brooke played a few Christmas songs on the piano.  I don't want her to feel like she has to perform on command, but I love when she plays for us.  Jerry was the one that asked her, so technically it wasn't me putting her on the spot.

Then it was FINALLY time for the cookies...

SO much sugar and SO many sprinkles, but it's all part of the experience, right?

They were all pretty meticulous when it came to the frosting and decorating!

My favorite moment was when Uncle Jeff played a song called, "I like your Christmas cookies, babe."  The song was catchy, but watching the kids all decorate and sing as they worked was nothing short of adorable.

After our guests lefts, the kids changed into their Christmas jammies and took the obligatory pictures by the tree. Colby wanted the manger in the picture, which was a great idea to show how full it was.  They worked hard doing kind deeds throughout the month of December to fill the manger for baby Jesus, and I was so proud of them for filling our home with love.

Being near all the gifts made them pretty giddy, and we decided to let them open one gift each.  More specifically, the gift they picked for each other.  Colby gifted Brooke a refill pack for her friendship bracelet kit.  Brooke gifted Colby a small Tracker stuffed animal, which he had been wanting from Kroger.  Of course they wanted to open more, but we explained that the rest of the excitement would have to wait until the next day.

We read the Christmas story from Matthew, placed cookies and milk for Santa, then filled an entire plate with carrots for Santa's reindeer (Brooke's request). It was sweet watching their excitement as they tried to make everything perfect.  Brooke remembered that she had colored a big Santa face, so she left it as a gift.  Colby decided to leave a quarter for Santa and asked me to write a note clarifying that the quarter was "for [you] to take home to the North Pole."

Once the kids were sound asleep in their beds, Santa came and left some goodies for a good little girl and boy...

As Kevin and I crawled into bed, I was pretty happy with how the day went.  It wasn't stressful, but instead a really nice day just making memories as a family and enjoying the love that Christmas brings.

baking for days

Our list of neighbors and ward friends who we do Christmas gifts for seems to be increasing, but in a fun and great way :)  Some years we bake goodies, other years we do black bean salsa.  This year, I settled on mostly goodies with 6-8 containers of salsa for my gluten-free and more health conscious friends :) 

I like to do this baking early in December before people have loads of goodies sitting uneaten on their kitchen counters.  I picked a weekend that we didn't have much going on so that we could deliver the goodies on Sunday afternoon as a family.  That meant that we did the baking on Saturday. Kevin normally helps, but he was off at a Stake dance, so it was me and the littles.  They were seriously great helpers, which didn't surprise me, but since I almost put them to bed at 6:30 for fighting, I WAS surprised that they worked so well together on the peanut butter cookie rolling, dipping, and hershey kiss placing.  

At one point, I was in between them helping roll the cookies while we rocked out to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You."  It might not seem like a big deal, but in that moment, I felt so grateful to be doing something I love (baking) with the two little humans that made me a Mama.  I want them to have fond memories of baking at Christmas and delivering goodies to friends who love our cookies.

We did a double batch of the peanut butter kiss cookies, a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies, and when I went to grab the almonds to start on the english toffee, I realized that the almonds were outdated.  By this point, it was nearly 9 PM and I just needed to be done so I could cover the cookies and get the kids to bed.  So, I scoured the pantry and found white chocolate that I could drizzle over pretzel crisps.  I had also planned to place wrapped Hershey Kisses on the plate, but opted for small wrapped dark chocolates instead.

I think we had 20 large plates and 4 little ones, which was A LOT of treats! I then started the process of wrapping them while the kids sat and watched a sing-a-long together, but because the plates were square, my clear cellophane wasn't working properly. I was super frustrated, and ended up having to wrap each plate like a flat gift which wasn't nearly as cute :(  By 10 PM I was finally finished and I rushed upstairs to get the kids in bed.  

We spent nearly 2 hours on Sunday delivering all the treats, and it was a good holiday outing as a family. 

Fast forward to the day before Christmas Eve when I made 17 cookie boxes for Kevin's employees.  I was super happy that my cookies were back to normal. The last few times I made them they weren't as soft as normal and I couldn't figure out what was different.  I have used the same recipe forever and they always turn out the same.  I decided to start fresh with the sugar and flour to see if that had something to do with it, and I think it made a difference.  I'm not sure why because the other stuff was definitely still fresh, but I'm glad it solved my cookie problem, haha.

Kevin said that his employees loved their boxes, and I was officially done with my holiday gift baking!!

arboretum (twice)

A week before school got out, Joanna invited Colby and I to go to the Dallas Arboretum with her, Marlie, and Brock.  They have season passes and could get us in for free, so you better believe we jumped on that opportunity.  We hadn't been to see the Twelve Days of Christmas Displays for a few years, and I knew Colby would love it.

Everything was just as beautiful as I remembered it :)  You wander along the path to each of the 12 Victorian-style gazebos depicting scenes from the traditional song.  I took a picture of the swans to show Brooke, and Colby wanted his picture taken by the drummers drumming.  (They also have the music playing as you walk from gazebo to gazebo.)

This year they had a whole Christmas Village, which was so well done! An arboretum volunteer handed us a scavenger hunt page as we entered the village, and the kids ran from shop to shop finding the hidden animal inside each one. There were only a few people wandering around, so it was easy to keep track of the kids and where they were going.

My favorite was Colby's reaction to the meat in the butcher shop, haha.

Him and Marlie pretended to play the piano together in the music shop.

Then it was time for his solo...

Joanna and I both loved this cute house with the flower boxes, so when none of the kids wanted to pose for a picture, we asked a stranger to take one of us!  

We climbed aboard Santa's sleigh before leaving the village and heading to the Children's Adventure Gardens.

By some miracle we were the only ones at the playground, so they kids had plenty of time to run and play together.  They all took off their shoes and were having a good 'ol time playing in the sand box while Joanna and I had lunch together.

We didn't have a ton of time at the science area, but just enough time to do a few of the cool activities.

We probably would have stayed longer, but I needed to get back to pick Brooke up from school.  As we passed this statue, Colby requested a picture. Sometimes he surprises me with what he thinks is cool, but I was happy to take the picture :)

Joanna commented that we would have to do it again when the bigger kids were out of school and before their passes expired.  So, we did just that...

First things, first: A picture by the 30 foot Christmas Tree :)

And one with Albert Einstein :)

I didn't take many pictures in the Christmas Village, but they were all very much into finding all the hidden animals again.

We then toured the historic DeGolyer House, which was super fancy.  Or "lavishly decorated in a European style" as the website explained.  The house was home to several special collections, including nutcrackers, nativities, and snow globes.  My kids were amazed by everything, but I had to remind them (mostly Colby) 100 times not to touch anything.

As we entered the Children's Adventure Gardens, the volunteer told us to watch out for animal statues wearing Santa hats.  If we found any, we were supposed to take a picture with it, then stop by the visitor center for a special prize.  Anytime you mention a prize to my kids, you better believe they will do what it takes to get it.  Challenge accepted :)

Their picture with the bat was probably my favorite, haha. Joanna pointed out that her kids both made the same "Eek" face, whereas my kids made a "Aaah" face.  

We spent an hour or more doing the interactive science games, exploring the incredible edible garden, building their own gardens (pictured below), using a huge kaleidoscope, and much more!

We really had a blast and were so thankful for the invitation, twice!!  It's so nice when the kids can have a great time and I get lots of time to chat with a great friend.