Our Very Own Christmas

As many of you know, we are heading to Utah this coming Friday so we are holding our own family Christmas early! We're doing it a week before we leave so the kids have a chance to play with their toys!

Yesterday morning, "Christmas Eve" the kids made some Christmas Drums to play with!

 

Adelynn loved watching the rain and the others came to join her, looking for signs of Santa. 

 

 Aaron practiced reading Santa Mouse and the Ratdeer to his sisters. Turns out, he practically has the book memorized. Sadly, the focus on my camera is having issues and I didn't realize it until after I snapped these pictures - otherwise I'd have used my phone!

 After Daddy came home, we settled in to watch the Nativity and read Santa Mouse and the Ratdeer once more - this time, Daddy read it!

 

 The kids set out the cookies they'd made for Santa the day before (the picture on the left) and a carrot for a reindeer, should one decide to come in with Santa. Then, Eric and I got to work! I set up the "wardrobe" I made from an $8 entertainment center I found! Score! Eric put together soccer goals ... he said he finally feels like a real Dad.

 To thank us for letting him stay at our home, my Uncle Craig gave us money for the kids for athletic gear so the balls and soccer equipment are from him :) Santa also gave us a toothpaste dispenser so the kids will stop spreading it all over the counter. He had his elves install it the night before...

 Christmas morning I went in and spent time with the kids while Eric got ready.  They were super excited!

 We all came down together and started with our gifts from Santa - our stockings and the movie Inside Out.
Here's our yearly Santa's Socks Photo:

 Then we opened the art supplies from Mama and Daddy so we can all do more crafts!

 

 I couldn't wait to show them what was inside the wardrobe! Eric had the idea of pulling out each new dress-up one at a time. The kids loved it!

 This pink dress was a clear winner and Audrey loved "spinning like a princess!"

The old dress-ups have been in my room for a while. There was no great way to organize them so they were always all over the place ... but now that they have the wardrobe, they got all the dress ups back. Audrey was ... pretty excited ;)

We definitely played hard and were ready for a yummy dinner!

   

After dinner, there were still gifts from the cousin name draw to open!

Audrey grabbed her new Elsa dress to match her new Elsa doll! And Aaron loved building LEGO's with Daddy!

Merry Christmas Kiddos! Daddy and I LOVE giving you gifts and look forward to it every year!