Happy Holidays

Well the Holidays have definitely been fun with a 5 year old and now 3 year old. We started getting into the mood over Thanksgiving when we drug the tree out and started to decorate. The kids aren't that patient and didn't understand why Mom spent almost 3 hours doing the lights. Once I was done and itching all over from the tree limbs it was time to put up the ornaments. That time will definitely stick with me for a long time. Katie was cute and sang Jingle Bells as she put on the ornaments. Zachary's favorite thing to do was hang the ornaments with pictures of him. Of course in the end a good % of the ornaments were on the bottom concentrated on the right hand side. I did get choked up though when at the end Zachary said "Oh it's so Beautiful".

During the weeks leading up to Christmas we did some fun things. We went to see the Parade of Lights, baked cookies and even went to see some Christmas lights. Since I was a kid I have traditionally always made sugar cookies for Christmas. There is something fun about making the dough, throwing sugar and flour on the counter, cutting the shapes and finally icing the cookies. When I asked the kids what colors of icing they wanted for decorating, they said yellow and blue. Not really holiday colors, huh. Along with sprinkles I let the kids pick out a candy to put on the cookies. Zach chose M&Ms, Katie picked Hershey Kisses and I chose Hot Tamales. At the begining Zach loved using my Hot Tamales - that is until he tried one. Not such a fan after that. They definitely tasted yummy. For Christmas lights we went through some neighborhoods around us. I think the kids favorite house was the one where you could turn on a certain radio station and the lights flashed to the beat of the music. Fast songs were greatly appreciated. I think I must have made it a little too toasty in the car as Zachary feel asleep within 15 minutes of leaving.

On Christmas Eve we got all dressed up and went to the 5pm service at Church. Although my kids were a little rowdy walking around in the cry room during the service, they were being quiet. That didn't stop the lady on the first row though in the room from telling them to hush. She even took away the hymnal from them since she didn't think they were treating it properly. If the room wasn't full and it wasn't Christmas, I might have said something. Once we got home from Church I did let the kids open up one gift. That definitely satisfied them until morning. Might I mention that we actually got a white Christmas which I was excited about.

On Christmas morning we woke up and opened gifts. Zachary loved his basketball goal and hockey equipment and Katie really liked her Dora Mermaid doll. Traditionally I will try to make a big breakfast on Christmas morning. It was biscuits and gravy and hash browns this year. Yes I tried making hasb browns possibly for the last time. It is way too much easier to buy them.

For lunch we went to Vince's dads and then off to my parents for dinner. By the end of the day the kids were exhausted but we had a great time.