One tradition the kid's always look forward to is their school Christmas parties. Normally, I can't attend b/c of work, but this year with our schedule, it worked out for me to attend both parties. It was so fun to be a part of this memory and they loved that I was there!
Mackenzie's 1st Grade class had lots of fun games, arts and crafts and snacks. She loved that I could finally come to a school event, and leaving a few minutes early before dismissalso we could race off to Caleb's party.
Caleb's class sang the Grinch theme song and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. While the 3 year olds, were a little shy when it came to performing, they were super cute anyway.
We iced cookies and made painted ornaments. It was so much fun and the perfect ending to the 2013 school year.
This year, we hosted a Christmas party with some close friends and their kid's. This has become a tradition over the past several years and it is always a fun time just being together. We did gift exchanges between the kid's and adults. It was lots of fun, especially the adult gift exchange as we could steal each other's gifts...now that's the Christmas spirit! :)
Another favorite tradition is visiting Santa and giving him our Christmas wish list.
This year, Mackenzie asked for an American Girl Doll (her 1st) and Caleb asked for a Jake and the Neverland Pirate Lego set.
Unfortunately, I do not have a Santa picture to post. Gone are the days where you can take a photo of your child with Santa. Now you get sucked into the package and no photography rights.
And speaking of Santa, his elves have had lots of fun visiting our house. Here's a glimpse of some of their latest shenanigans...
Books on tape
Mackenzie lost her 3rd tooth while the elves were here. They tried to cash in, and made their own tooth pillow to try and collect from the tooth fairy. They even put in fake "mini marshmellow teeth" to try to fool the fairy. Those silly elves!
Just "hanging out"
Rainbow loomin'
Leaving their "mark" on our family photos!
Playing games!
Repelling
I'm pretty sure my children's favorite elf moment, was when they got special permission to hold them on their last day here. It was so sweet and a memory I had to capture on video.
The past 3 years, we have hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house. It is probably my favorite tradition, Normally we do a gift exchange with my family, but since my older sister and family of 7 were coming into town for Christmas and staying with us, we decided to hold off on the gift exchange. Instead, we ate dinner, and loaded up to go visit great-grandma Monty at her retirement village.
Beef tenderloin, cocktail shrimp, baked potatoes, salad and rolls. Yummy!
Grandpa very carefully carrying the cocktail shrimp!
And when he's not helping out in the kitchen, he's posing for a photo! What a guy! :) And speaking of posing, here's a few of my favorite pictures from the night...
Kenzie photobombing me and Em
Full bellies and smiles...and off to see Great-grandma!
After returning home we left cookies and milk for Santa, along with Reindeer food and glitter to light the way!
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Then we nestled all snug in our beds, waiting for Santa to arrive! Merry Christmas Eve!
