Simply Amazing

Last Christmas pictures for the year

Every year I get dress a red Santa type dress to wear. She picked this one out and then decided she didn't want to wear it. I found the hat for the doll and said they could look like each other and she went for it. I need to do a scrapbook page of her in her Santa dresses over the past 3 years.





Jess goofing for the camera. What a ham!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

We were up at 5:30 with Mike this morning so he could watch the kids open Santa's presents. Afterward I went back to lie in bed (didn't really sleep) while Jess played with her Leapster and Jason played his Guitar Hero downstairs. At 8:30 I got up and made pancakes for breakfast. I love Christmas - I love shopping on Black Friday. I love wrapping the presents. I love going to the children's service on Christmas Eve. It's a time when I can indulge myself in buying for my kids. They certainly don't get everything they want but they do get a lot at Christmas, some of it practical, some of it luxuries. I love hearing the Christmas story. I love listening to Christmas carols (especially in my truck since we get country Christmas on the XM radio). I love the magic of Santa Claus. I don't understand people who celebrate Christmas but don't allow their kids to believe in Santa Claus. I do realize, of course, that Santa is not the reason for Christmas; that it is our Lord's birthday. But, there is magic in a child's belief in Santa and I want that magic to last as long as possible.

Waiting for the kids to get up

Santa came!!!

Ready to for the next snowfall

Jess's favorite song is Dominic the Donkey. She told Santa she wanted a donkey for Christmas and he looked a little surprised.

On Christmas Eve, we picked my mom up at the nursing home so that she could come to church with us. We went to the 5:00 children's service. It was really nice - lots of carols and Pastor's son read a story about the baby Jesus told by the animals. Jason was an alcolyte and Jess carried the baby Jesus to the manger. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of that but I didn't think having the flash go off would be appropriate at that moment. She looked adorable up at the altar gently placing the baby in the manger.











After church we went out to eat, dropped my mom off and then came home to open the family presents. Typically, we only open one but Mike had to work today so to save time this morning, we opened them all last night and the kids just opened Santa's presents today.








The kids on Christmas Eve.








Spreading reindeer food to lead the reindeer here.

Can't forget the milk and cookies.

December snowstorm - 12/20/09

We had a huge storm on the 19-20th. No school on Monday which was very, very nice. Usually I don't like snowdays because we have to make them up but I got so much done for Christmas; that extra time was really helpful. I was coming down with a sinus infection so I didn't go outside. Mike used the snowblower and the kids played in the snow.

Ready for the snow!

Sledding

Cuddling with Jack in front of the wood stove. We're getting a lot of use out of that stove this year.

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Our Trip to Newport, RI

I took the kids to Newport to see Santa at Marble House. While we were there we also went to The Elms Rooftop and Behind the Scenes Tour and we went to the Astor's Beechwood which is my favorite (too bad it just sold for 10.5M). We had a great weekend.


The key to a good car trip with 2 kids.


The Astor's Beechwood. It's amazing that this was considered a summer cottage and only used 2 months a year. They had dancing at the Beechwood after we toured the mansion. Jason was a good sport.

Santa and Jess discussing footwear at Marble House. She was thrown by the fact that he was wearing more of a St Nicholas outfit with the hood and brown suede boots than the hat and black boots.

Christmas Season Happenings

Tis the season to be busy. But it's a good kind of busy. I took the kids to see Santa again at Colony Place and got a good picture to put on our Christmas cards.

We had our annual church fair and I made cookies for the bake table. I saw them in a magazine and thought they looked really cute. Of course they ended up taking longer to make than I thought they would but they were worth the time.

Last year I made advent calendars for the kids. There are 25 little drawers and I covered each in scrapbook paper. I filled the drawers with m&m's, dove chocolates and pistachios.

When I was little my mom took me to Jordan Marsh to see the Enchanted Village. They stopped having it after several years and the scenes went into storage. It was erected in City Hall Plaza for a short time but that didn't last long. This year Jordan's Furniture bought it and did a great job with it. Right after work on a Friday, we drove to Avon and visited the furniture store. The Enchanted Village was awesome. I love seeing all the old fashioned scenes. After we were done with the village, we went to the laser show Jordan's had - Christmas carols with lasers - that was also great. I wasn't sure how Jess would like that but she loved it! It seems Jordan's also bought the recipe for Jordan Marsh's famous blueberry muffins. I bought one - I wished I bought more; it was very good.

Jess at the Clifford tree at Colony Place

Jess, Jason and the wild thing at Colony Place

Jess, Jason and St. Nick at Colony Place