Christmas Day in photos

As you can imagine I took tons of pictures today.  I always want to remember the fun and joy of our Christmases.  Today was not perfect in some ways and in others it was.  I am so thankful for my little or not so little family of six!

Santa came and Ellie our Elf left.  That caused some tears from Elena.

The note to Santa and his reply along with a little treat

Santa gifts

Happy kiddos

We opened gifts from our family after Santa's presents and stockings.  The nice thing about my desire to have more than one tree in the house is presents from different family can be placed under different trees.  Then we had a yummy breakfast.  

The kids tree with all their ornaments

The kids of course got little things, but this Christmas was more about family experiences in the coming year.

New hats

New scooters

Learning we now have season tickets to Rice baseball

The boys finding out they are going to Monster Jam and the meet and greet in one week

Drew reading about our New Year's Eve date to hear the Josh Abbott Band

Elena was a little excited to get tickets to Frozen on Ice in April

Emma was happy to get tickets to the DWTS show in January

And I cannot wait for the Texans game this Sunday with seats just a few rows behind the Texans bench!

These three also got new bikes while Emma got a new Kindle

post bike ride-run

Since it was a warm day they were all able to enjoy being outside playing with their new stuff.  The boys went on a bide ride-run with me.  Each rode two miles while I ran 4.  It was fun for all of us.  Drew got us a new fancy camera.  I can't wait to learn how to use that!  I will really makes my kiddos crazy with pictures now.  Elena screamed just about every time she opened a gift.  It has hard to get pictures of her because she was so quick. 

Jonah loves this motion controlled flying object

Samuel got his very own "dog tags" from Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Scott...he kind of likes them

There was a huge mess, but it was worth it.  Everyone played nicely with all the toys and games.  It took all day to enjoy everything a time or two or three.  I am thinking tomorrow will be more of the same.  Right now this momma is tired after a long and wonderful day!

Merry Christmas to All (Y'all) and to All a Good Night

Merry Christmas Eve

The day is almost here!  Tomorrow is Christmas!!!  My kiddos are so excited and thankfully because NORAD tracker said that Santa would be here soon, they are in bed.

Tomorrow is fun, but I loved today. We spent the day as a family enjoying each other and our church family.  It was a joy-filled day as we finished our final preparations for Christmas.

The day began as it always does on Christmas Eve....gifts.  Those gifts are pajamas, but they kiddos are still excited.

Drew and I were crazy prepared for Christmas so there wasn't much to do today.  I even had time to set our table for Christmas breakfast.  Since we had extra time, we all went to the track.  I had to run 800m repeats and they kids enjoyed the cold weather.  They played football, flew a kite, ran some here and there with me, and played on the playground.  An hour of fun and enjoyment in the cold weather was perfect for our morning.

Running backwards in front of me...silly boy!

Love my family

Our evening is always spent at church. This year just like last year we attended both services.  Emma, Jonah, and Samuel participated in the children's musical.  Elena will be able to next year.  It was wonderful as always.  Each one had a line to speak throughout and the songs were beautifully sung....truly heartwarming!    The candlelight service was lovely as well.  I think our church is beautiful and we love our church family!

Before the day can end, treats had to be spread for the reindeer and treats had to be left for Santa.

We are missing our family tonight as we always do.  We can't wait to talk to everyone tomorrow and share all the joys of Christmas day.  We love you all!!!

Merry Christmas Eve from our house!!!

Three Christmas Traditions

Every year we as a family do certain things during the Christmas season.  I really want my kiddos to remember having fun family traditions that they will perhaps pass along to their families one day.  So, each Christmas we go to Market Street to take pictures at the Commons area and to see Santa.  I know some of my older kiddos have questions about Santa, but thankfully they keep those opinions quiet!

These are some of my favorite pictures of them that I take all year.  Considering how many I take that is saying something.  I love the festiveness of the pictures!

Another tradition is baking cookies.  I bake most of the cookies, but we always bake the cut-out sugar cookies as a family.  I give over total decorating control and it is interesting to see what happens.  Red hots were popular this year.

Our last must do every year tradition is building gingerbread houses.  I bought the kits at Michaels which might be cheating, but I can't stand the smell of gingerbread.  I added some additional candy choices and the kids were in heaven.  I love seeing them concentrate so hard on the houses and to see what creative choices each one makes.  Everyone does their own except Elena who still asks for the most help.

I think they all did a great job.  Samuel said he wasn't going to eat his because it was too pretty!