Gingerbread Village

Before we undecorated for Christmas, I snapped a few pictures of the gingerbread village we had accumulated. The church on the left is mine.

Nicky also chose to make a church, but his has a drive through ATM??? (Don't ask. I don't get it either.)

And Kairi's, of course, was made at church with her youth group friends.

We always undecorate before the new year. Our house doesn't feel empty the rest of the year, but after the clutter of Christmas decorations, it always feels really bare for the first few weeks in January!

Just the Family Birthday

Kai got two birthdays in one. Aunt Cyndy had to sleep through her first party, and Juli was too young to attend. Plus, with Grandma and Grandpa still in residence, our house was the place to be! We started with Kai's favorite cheese enchiladas, and then sang Happy Birthday with chocolate cupcakes.

The sparkler candles were hard to blow out!
But if you're going to sing, you might as well break out the guitars.

Lots of guitars!

Grandma had promised to show Hannah a few things on her new Christmas guitar, and Scott's always eager to pick up a few tips as well. It was great watching the whole family sing along with some of Mom's standards. She hasn't played for us in years, so she didn't even know that Nick knew the "Marvelous Toy" song - he joined in on the chorus and surprised her. Before you know it, we were all singing along. Mom wouldn't thank me for putting up the video, but I did capture a few of my favorites in case she hides that guitar for another few years!

Bedtime Birthday

Pink bunny slippers on a birthday cake? It works pretty well if your party is a trip to the movies to see "Bedtime Stories" with friends!

First, pizza and wings in the Rave movie room...

With friends and of course a cousin or two...

Then blow out your candles!It's great to be twelve and have wonderful friends. Everyone gave Kai beautiful gifts.But Mommy and Daddy surprised her with a lime green iPod!Not to mention, how fun is it to wear your pajamas to the movie theater? A few friends forgot (or decided not to) but many turned up in pj bottoms at least!Happy Birthday, Kairi! I hope you had fun!

Christmas Redux

It's not Hannah's year to be with us for Christmas, so the day after Christmas, we did it again! This time, Hannah got most of the presents, naturally. But Faith managed to score this adorable fairy outfit! Now that the rest of their cousins live so close, even though we see Hannah about the same amount of time as we did when they lived in New York, it feels like longer to my kids, so they were off the wall trying to catch up the rest of the night. So much love to smoosh into a week!

Christmas Chaos

What can I say about Christmas? There were presents.... And there were cheeseheads...

And there were more presents...

And there was the big surprise... We're going to Disney!!

And there were MORE presents...

And there was eating...

And more eating...

Lots more eating...

And don't forget dessert!

And there were board games...

And more eating (while playing board games!)

And then, just like that, it was over. Merry Christmas!

The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,
Every creature was busy, (Right down to the mouse!) The children were trying to hold to a pose,
And show off all of their cute Christmas clothes,

The oldest (a vision in satin and lace),

Had a beautiful smile adorning her face,

While the little ones looked at each other with awe,

At the beautiful child that both of them saw,

Even the boy child was dressed up - oh my!

How cute is that little suit, hanky and tie?

But on to the presents the kids quickly flew,

With presents from Grandma and Aunt Cyndy, too.

Then off to the church where each child played their part,

And played and sang with all of their heart.

'Cause Christmas is more than presents and clothes,

It's the birth of our Savior, as even Faith knows!

Then it was time for our homeward bound drives,

To hang up the stockings before Santa arrives,

A plate of cookies was left by the tree,

Then off to bed with giggles and glee!

(My profoundest apologies to the author of the real poem. I couldn't resist, cheesy as it was...)

Gingerbread Men

What do you do when you've been making cookies all day, and then your cousins come over so that their dad and your dad can watch football? Make more cookies, of course!First, Aunt Jenn puts on the icing...

Then you put on the candy... Tada! A gingerbread man!

Of course, if you're older, you can do your own icing...

Or just eat all the candy trees...But one way or another...

Everyone will make a masterpiece!