Holiday Happenings

We did many fun things during this holiday season. You've already seen our Thanksgivings and Black Friday traditions. Now I'll move on to the smaller, more random things we like to do during the holidays.



Movie night

We are always watching Christmas movies--but usually they're just on in the background, or we catch 20 mins of one before bed some nights.

 But every so often, we get to sit down as a family to watch a movie in its entirity. This year, we did that one night with Polar Express, and we made movie necklaces. They're like candy necklaces, but with random treats--pretzels, gummy lifesavers, fudge cookies--basically whatever you can string on twine.

 The finished product provided quite the snack for movie-watching.

 The four bigger girls all made their own.

They may or may not have gotten carried away--HA!

It was a fun family activity!

 And Scrunchie wasn't left out--I made her necklace for her. Looks like I got carried away as well!

And at some point in the movie--some people just couldn't stay awake anymore. But we all had so much fun. Great memories.

Look at lights
Like many families, we drive around in pj's with hot cocoa and looked at Christmas lights. We always drive out to a fundraiser light display out at the lake. This is a great show, and the kids love it.

We also drive around random neighborhoods to look at lights, but we make sure to hit a partiular historic neighborhood every single year. The homes are so gorgeous and Victorian. I would love to live in a neighborhood as festive as this one.

See Santa
We always get a professional picture with Santa, but we also get one with THE REAL SANTA at my MOPS group.

Each year, Santa comes to our party and reads a story. He also poses for pictures with the kids. Of course, my older kids are in school during this time, so I usually only get my younger kids in the picture. Yes, I've thought about taking them out of school just so they can see Santa, but I've never done it!

 Hunk and I got our picture taken while celebrating at MOPS.

 He's a happy boy.

 His first Christmas!

 Santa read to the kiddos.

 There were snacks and a coloring table all set up for the kids.

Nutcracker (which will have it's own post soon)

The girls were cast as dolls this year. Bug is the Arabian and Brownie is the Hungarian.

 All the dolls together.


This is such a huge part of our Christmas season (actually our entire first half of the school year). We spend weekend time rehearsing starting in September. And while my girls have smaller parts than the older kids, they are still heavily committed--especially considering their age. They love it--so I love it. And we've made some great memories while participating the last two years. We see friends, have late nights, put on make up, and best of all-- my girls get to show their talent to the audience during performances.

 My girls with Miss Abby--she used to be our neighbor--her mama is a dear friend of mine.

We also make it a point to take the dancers to see the opposite cast's performance. This is the only time they get to see the whole show all the way through.

I got to take the two of them this year!

Live Nativity
Our preschool's church does a live nativity every year--and we finally made it out there this year. This is the 5th year we've tried to go and actually made it. The line looked long, but it really wasn't that bad. So fun!

 The church has a recording of songs and the story. It's a neat show.

Live Donkey included.


Penguin Man
He is our version of Elf on the Shelf. He's magic. He knows Santa. He sees all that we do. He brings fun and the spirit of Christmas to our house. One night, he got really creative and replaced the old candy corn I'd left in our candy jar with actual Christmas candy. We were all relieved, but Penguin Man sure did make a production our of it!

He left a trail of the old candy and dumped the pile near a trash can. Clever little fella.

 He's a rhyming fool--leaving us notes all the time.

Cookie Baking
Like many families, we do plenty of holiday baking. Some of this baking is for family, some for friends, my MOPS group, cookie exchanges, and teachers. My MOPS group does a cookie exchange every year--and I participated for the second or third time this year. I made Butterfinger cookies--delish! My friend Caroline hosted us all at her house, but of course I didn't get a single picture.

And we can't leave out the Jolly Ol' Man--we made Gingerbreads for him per, Peach's request.

 Each girl got to decorate and eat one cookie!

 And they each got to pick one of our finished products to put on Santa's plate.

 This one got to eat the goods!

 Poor Boushka was so tired this night that she fell fast asleep on our couch before the cookie-baking commenced.But she did pick one to go on S man's plate.

Here is the frosting recipe I used--worked like a charm!

And this year was made extra special by a Snow Day on what was supposed to be the last day of school for the year. Yes, we missed our parties, but we had so much fun this day!

 We had several day's advanced warning--but nobody actually thought we'd get the day off.

 The view from our breakfast nook on the morning of our Snow Day! Glorious!


Decorate

It may not look like much, but this living room is so cozy during the holidays. We decorate with our own unique touch--and we love spending time in here during the winter.

This is the view looking down into the room from our stairs.

 And from the opposite corner.

At the foot of the stairs.

 Opposite the stairs again but including the tree this time. 

 

I adore a lit up Christmas tree at night.

 Christmas Programs at Preschool

Both preschool girls performed in the preschool's Christmas program. They don't allow pictures or video during the performance, so I get after shots by the tree.

And messy cupcake face at Jesus' birthday party.

The girls preformed on different days this year.

 We managed to get a group shot.

 I think the cupcakes are the girls' favorite part! Can you tell?

We also like to just hang out by the tree!

 My older four standing in awe.

 Hanging ornaments.

 Pure beauty.

 Watching a movie.

 All six of my presents under the tree.

 Baby love.

Lots and...

lots of baby love.

Gingerbread Party

Starting last year, my good friend, Lynette, threw a Gingerbread House Decorating Party. Oh my, it is so fun! This year was the second annual party, and boy did we go to town on our houses. All four older girls made a house, Scrunchie ate people's houses, I took pictures, and Daddy held Hunk and helped out when he could.

Lynette has a great set up in her basement--it's nice and open and has great crafting space. So we got right down to business. My friends Mandy and Caroline were there, too--and some other guests that I didn't know as well, but I have a feeling we'll get to know them better as the years pass and we continue attending this awesome party. Lynette has plans to make it an annual event--and we look forward to it now every year!

Lynette is a serious gingerbread house maker--she makes these all from scratch--and she makes the frosting, too. Then each guest brings some candy--we brought skittles, mini chocolate chips, and peppermints this year. There were gum drops, lollipops, red hots and several other candies there to choose from as well. 

 She did a great job decorating her house.

 Yes, the adults have some big-kid fun, too. Here's Caroline giving her hubby some frosting.

 Boushka's house--I helped her a little bit, but she did most of the work. Yes, Scrunchie, we see your photo bomb.

 I think she'd been enjoying some stolen candy right before this picture.

 He can hold babies and little girl scarves. So nice of you, Daddy!

 This is Mandy's--- I mean, this is Mandy's daughter's house. Pretty stylish with the twizzler roof!

My Peach did a fantastic job with hers. I didn't help one bit--the decorating was all her!

 Boushka working hard. I loved frosting so she could style!

 Daddy helping with the frosting!

 Cute kids. This little boy is the most huggable babe ever. I love getting hugs from him! And I love this little Brownie too! It's weird... these two aren't related, but they kind of look it here, don't you think?

 

 

Here's Peach's clean slate.

I can't believe it, but I didn't get a single picture of our great hostess. Lynette, you did a great job. We had a blast! I know several of us mommies did not want to go! And I know none of the kid did either! A successful party!

Thanksgiving Festivities

Thanksgiving was a month ago, but I am finally blogging about it. Better late than never!

We have a tradition of doing our Christmas decorating and tree buying on Black Friday. A few years ago, my sister and I would go shopping on Black Friday, but now it's a full blown family day. With my sister always gone on Thanksgiving, I lost my shopping partner and this tradition evolved... and I do love it!

We went to one Christmas tree farm for a few years, but we haven't been since 2010 because it closed down. So last year we visited a new one about 40 minutes out of town, and we loved it. So we went again this year.

When you first pull up you see a big red barn. Inside the barn they have free treats, a few goods the sell, and a craft area for the kiddos all set up. My kids really enjoy making the pinecone angels!

They can also make a picture frame out of colored tongue depressors, and then they color the picture--like Boushka is doing here.

Here is daddy with his hot cider and a baby boy all bundled up. He is such a good daddy--always willing to do baby duty so I can capture the memories.

Here's the kiddos at the craft table.

Once the crafting is complete, we hop on a hay-rack ride and venture out to the trees.

I have a thing for Douglas Firs--which are imported to this particular farm--so that is what we get each year. I know they can be conveinent, but I just can't imagine skipping the real tree experience and sticking with a fake.

Here are all the kids with mama.

Both years that we've visited this farm, it has been really cold and windy. Thank goodness they have a warming hut with a stove and coffee. This hut also offers some great picture spots.

Once we warmed up, I had the kids squish onto a bench outside the hut. They're too cute.

Once we had the tree all tied down, we snapped one quick picture outside the big barn. Can you tell it was extremely sunny that day?

Saturday we had Thanksgiving at my mom's house. There was quite the spread. I kept forgetting to take pictures at the actual family gatherings like I normally do. In fact, I think this would've been the only picture at my mom's if it hadn't been for the fact that my Uncle and Aunt surprised us with a visit. So of course, then it occured to me to take picutres.

My mom's brother, Uncle Lysle, holding Hunk for the first time. Quite the pair. Hunk was close to being born on his great uncle's birthday, but missed it by a week.

Here's all the kidlets with their great uncle.

My Aunt Carolyn and Hunk.

And here's my aunt, uncle and mom.

After they left, I guess my camera stayed out because I did get some pictures of the girls opening their Christmas pj's.

They were tickled to get them.

This one is holding a new dress as well. Each girl got a new Christmas dress and boots (to boot)!

We celebrated with Matt's family on Thanksgiving this year, but I didn't get a single picture. It seems that one holiday per year, I forget to capture one celebration. Though I don't think it's "forget" as much as "don't have time because I'm chasing 5 kids and nursing one." At least that's what it was this year. His grandma had a bunch of us over for a great lunch. It was a nice day, so the kids got to run around outside a lot this year. Of course, Uncle Mike and Aunt Amy chased them--and the girls loved every minute of it!