the longest Christmas post in blog history

I will admit to being a tad remiss in the blogging department this past week. But for good cause...we've been enjoying the holidays with family and friends! Instead of a plethora of small posts geared towards specifics events I've decided it would be best to completely bore you and send you into a post-holiday stupor by sharing all (or at least most) of our holiday excitement in one grand post. Excited yet?

We started out the week with school parties, preschool programs, visits from a few out of town friends, cookie baking, and some playing in the snow. I've tried to limit the picture showing so as not to put you into a catatonic state! I've also tried to resist the urge to edit all these snap shots as well. A snap shot is just that right?

Here's J singing her little heart out at her preschool program...the little guy next to her was really loud (in a cute, endearing way) and she kept eyeing him...they were pretty cute!

Next we headed over to one of our best friend's house for a visit with Santa. They seem to have an "in" with the "big guy" and he visits their house early every year so the neighborhood kids can sit on his lap and present their wishes.


Sam enjoyed Santa too (from a distance)...Santa even mentioned how much he liked our little guy's hat :)

By the end of the evening the babies had had enough. They look like we stuffed them full of cookies and egg nog don't they...honest we didn't!

A rare snap shot of me with my little man taken in my friend's kitchen

I didn't escape the holidays without a bit of sewing. J had several hand-me-down Christmas dresses that she liked but A made sure I knew that her "holiday wardrobe" was lacking. I whipped up this little jumper (Farbenmix Marieke - hands down my favorite pattern) in an afternoon out of a vintage Santa print she picked from my stash. I also made her a little peasant top (see Santa photo above) using my basic pattern...instead of gathering the neck in with elastic I pulled the gathering stitches tight and then trimmed the neckline in bias tape with a big bow...turned out pretty cute!

We had a visit from my parents (Mimi and Baboo) last weekend...did a bit of shopping and saw the train exhibit at Crown Center. This weekend grandma and grandpa will be coming to celebrate. In between the company, however, we had a glorious Christmas with just our own cozy little family. Other than all being sick...it was a lovely couple of days to relax and enjoy each other.

The kids dressed in their matchy matchy outfits just as we were heading out to the Christmas Eve service at our church.

Sisterly love. They really are the best of friends. It is so fun to watch them growing up together.

We sat out cookies for Santa before church and he filled our stockings while we were gone! After dinner we sat and took turns opening all of our little treasures. We've never taught our children that Santa is real....just allowed them to believe should they choose. Funny how little ones want to believe in Santa. The girls ask me every year "Is Santa real?" To which I respond, "what do you think?"....and every year they exclaim "OF COURSE!"


I caught this tender moment between my oldest and the baby. He got a new jingle ball in his stocking and she was ever-so-gently rolling it to him in a game of catch. As you can see...he pretty much thinks she hung the stars in the sky...and she feels the same way about him!

After the stockings we put on our Christmas jammies, tore into the new movie that Santa had left, popped the popcorn and heated the hot cocoa, and piled on a collection of mis-matched quilts on the family room floor. We watched the movie together (Barbie's A Christmas Carol) and fell asleep together like one-big-giant-family sleepover.



In the morning we woke up and made Begian waffles ("belchin' waffles" as my girls say) with blueberries and cream. Yeah...scratch that...they didn't like them so the first round got eaten by mommy and daddy and they got the more traditional butter and syrup ;)

After we were all pleasantly stuffed we tore into the gifts. They each got three presents this year: jammies, something they needed (A got a set of Junie B. Jones books as she has become a voracious reader and J got a new ballet bag and "ballerina-tard"), and a fun gift (doll clothes for their American girls in a cute little suitcase). Sam got an activity table and an assortment of manly toys ;)


The festivities will continue this weekend...but for now I will wrap up this post.

I truly hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family...that you shared it with people you love...and that your New Year will be full of Christ's blessings. Thank you for sharing in our lives through this blog. I've met so many wonderful people through this simple adventure and I am so thankful!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!