Tonight was Santa night at MOPS. The boys got to talk to him twice! Once when we arrived and then they got to sit on his lap after we had done crafts and had treats. Henry asked for a Paw Patroller, all the pop-up pups and all the pup vehicles. Jack wants some new house shoes and a Nintendo DS.
They also took some silly pictures in the photo booth.
Then we walked up to the square to see the lights and the big Christmas tree.
We woke up to a very special breakfast on Dec. 1. Santa had visited and left us an elf! He also left a letter… he explained this particular elf had been naughty and he hoped he could spend the Christmas season with us. (He’d been fired from his two previous jobs at the North Pole). The boys decided to name him Lucky. Santa also left matching Christmas jammies and a special ornament for each boy. Every morning the boys are having fun looking for Lucky. They had really been wondering how a family “got” an elf so they were very, very excited Santa decided we needed one!
We got all the Christmas decorations out the day after Thanksgiving. The boys are old enough now that they remember all the special decorations and we had a great time getting everything out. Here are some of the things they love…
Musical Ornaments – Pretty much every year Aunt Chris gets us a singing Hallmark ornament. We keep them all in a special basket next to the tree so the boys can play with them whenever they want.
Nativity Sets – We have two sets: one that we got as wedding presents and one that Grandma Pat and Grandpa Bill got me when I was six years old. They were excited to be able to unwrap my very special set from Grandma. Henry thought Rudolph should be in the nativity scene also.
Christmas Tree – They love helping put the ornaments on the tree and remember their own special ornaments.
Christmas Books – We are so lucky to have lots and lots of Christmas books. They love reading them over and over again.
“Their” Trees – They each have a tree in their room and they love decorating them and setting them up just the way they want them.
North Pole Village – We have a huge collection of North Pole Village buildings (thanks to Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill!). They get so excited to unwrap each building and they spend lots of time just standing staring at the detail in the buildings and the elves.
Christmas Dishes – We are also very lucky to have Grandma Pat’s Christmas dishes. I love using the dishes I remember using when I was a little girl.
By the end of the day we were definitely in the Christmas spirit! They are so, so excited for Christmas this year.
We kicked off Thanksgiving week by going to Henry’s Thanksgiving celebration at preschool. Grandma Pam and Grandpa Glen even got to come this year! The kids sang a few very beautiful songs and then they joined us at our table for a Thanksgiving feast of fruit salad, popcorn, mini-muffins and candy corn. The kids worked very hard to create all of the beautiful table decorations. Here’s Henry and his best buddy Cameron (and Cameron’s little brother Cole!).
And here is Henry’s class and a picture of him with Mommy and Daddy. I love the Thanksgiving celebration!
On Thanksgiving Day we went to Baldwin. We kicked off the day with a yummy breakfast and then we headed out to visit Grandma Pat. When we got back we did our annual craft (which was pretty awesome this year). After the craft we had our big Thanksgiving meal. It was a very fun day, but we missed Will, Grandma and Zeke. It isn’t the same with them there.
We had fun celebrating Nathan’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. The boys bought him the most awesome shirt ever (Sriracha hot sauce) and he got a super-cool beer cap map of the United States. And they decorated his cake all by themselves!
