The Big Day

We were excited to wake up early on Christmas morning to see the looks on the kids faces.  Amita and Ansel were up shortly after I started the coffee maker, so we didn't have to wait long.

Before we opened any gifts, we read the Christmas story from the Bible that we'd been piecing together every day in our Advent calendar.

Ansel was very interested.

Then we opened our stockings to see what Santa left.

Sunglasses are awesome!  Even if you can't see out of them!

And it's monkey see, monkey do around here.

Santa brought M&M's.  The kids were VERY happy!

Then the gift opening began.  We had to take a short break for Amita to put on her police officer costume before we could continue.

And in monkey do fashion, Ansel also needed his firefighter costume on.

After the gifts from grandparents and parents, it was time for the Santa gifts.  He brought Ansel exactly what he asked for... pretzels!!

They were delicious!

He also remembered a trumpet for Amita.  She was beyond thrilled!

M&M's make a great breakfast on a special holiday like Christmas!

So does coffee cake.  I took a stab at making Nisu inspired cake.  It passed inspection!

A few days after Christmas, we made our way north to visit Nana and Papa.

The kids had fun giving and receiving presents.

They loved "helping" everyone open their gifts.

All that celebrating really wears a girl out!

Is it Christmas Yet?

The month of December seemed to fly by for Aaron and myself... but for the kids, they were anxiously awaiting the number 25 on our Advent calendar!  In addition to celebrating St. Nick, seeing Santa, and baking cookies, we also found many other holiday activities to enjoy this season.  We did a drive-through Christmas lights show in a park (with the kids snug in their PJ's!).  We attended a live nativity and got to "meet" the camel and donkey!  Ansel liked the live animals and the really big angel.  Amita liked that it was at her school and she saw teachers that she knew.  We made time for some holiday movies together.  We even tried some hot cocoa!!  The kids liked the marshmallows, but not the hot drink.  Here's a few more photos of our holiday fun.

The kids made Rudolph hats and had a blast wearing them.

They also were excited to dress up for church.

Now all we need to do is work a little on their poses...

That's better!

Ansel was tired of having his picture taken... but Amita obviously wasn't!

Here's the crew on Christmas Eve.  We had an awesome time at the candlelight church service.  No one got burned and the church is still standing.  Success!!

To stay on Santa's good list, Amita decided she wanted to carry the diaper bag for us.

We let each kid open one gift on Christmas Eve (Mama got to choose which one).

It was pajamas for both of them!!  Amita was really excited!

Ansel said, "clothes" and went back to playing.

C Is For Christmas Cookies

In addition to our gingerbread cookies and our church windows cookies that we always make around Christmas, we decided to do cutout cookies with the kids this year.  Amita helped with the cutouts and then both of them were very excited to decorate.

They put lots of yummy sprinkles and peanut butter m&m's on all the cookies.  Super fun!!

Here's Amita testing out her work.  I think it passed inspection!

Not sure how this guy got frosting in his nose!!!

And if you thought that was messy... get a load of this!!

St Nick

December brought a new tradition to our house this year: an Advent calendar.  The kids LOVED reading a bible verse and eating the accompanying candy every day.

For St. Nick, we decided to watch the Veggie Tales movie, St Nick: A Story of Joyful Giving (excellent movie if you've never seen!).  We put on our PJ's, ate popcorn and enjoyed the show.  Then we put our shoes outside our door before bedtime to see what St. Nick would bring.

Here's Amita discovering her treasure the next morning.  It was a Grinch movie and new boots!

Ansel got new crocs (since he outgrew his favorites!) and some puzzles.

And then the big fun came that day.  We got to go see Santa!  I had asked the kids the night before what they were going to ask for.
Amita - A trumpet and an ornament for the tree
Ansel - Pretzels

Here's Ansel approaching Santa.  There wasn't a line when we got there.

Then he started to cry.

Then he scooted away and yelled, "Ansel no like it!!!!"

This photo was the best we could do.  The kids did NOT want that weird Santa guy sitting or standing near them.

We thought maybe Amita would try it so she could request her trumpet.  But that didn't go over too well either.

Now that we're far away from Santa, we can have a good time!