Light at the end....

It's time to say goodbye to Christmas....I'm 2% sad and 98% excited to have peace on Earth again.  But before I say my final goodbye to this wonderful holiday, I bought one last tiny thing today (after I'd already put up ALL the Christmas decorations.) 

Yes, you are seeing this right.  I bought tree #8 today.  WAIT.... before you get all eye-rolls-sighing because you now officially believe I'm crazy, hear me out!  I saw this tree last week at Hobby Lobby the day after Christmas, in Tyler.  I'm pretty sure it was something like $150 and 50% off.  Shawn was with me and I debated back and forth, not wanting to spend that much, but feeling like it was the right tree for what I had planned.  We decided not to buy and to hold off till next year when they put them back out.  Well then I remembered that usually the week after Christmas, Hob Lob goes from 50 to 80% off on Christmas...so I decided to be there when they opened today, on the off chance that the they had the tree at our Hob Lob.  There were TWO of them still there, but one had only half the lights working.  I looked at the other one and the price tag said $116...and 80% off making it $24!!!  I called Shawn right away and he gave me the big time green light!  I snatched that thing up so fast, I'm sure I was a sight to see...three kids, and me with "wild eyes" carrying this 6 ft Christmas tree. LOL  Either way, I have amazing plans for this tree and it's going to be so so so cute when it's done.  You'll see it next November on here!  And as for the small one I got for free a few weeks back, I already have plans for it too and can't wait to show you when it's that time of year again!  I truly think I'm done at 8 trees....no really, I think 8 is great.  Unless I think of some other theme I can't live without....then 9 would be divine.

Christmas in Tyler

So after doing our own little Christmas, we headed to Tyler to do Christmas with our families.  Here we all are in front of my parents house.

And here are all the grandkids....I LOVE this picture!  Hilarious and so true!

After that, we headed to Shawn's mom's house where we were staying.  We couldn't wait till the next day to do presents with her so we made her do Christmas right then!

Max was checking out what candy Ava got

Friday morning, we did our annual pilgrimage to Mineola to meet our friends the Campbells for burgers and catching up.  I think this is our 4th year to do this!

While there, we headed over to the touristy train area and took a few pictures. 

Then it was back to Tyler.  We met my parents and sister and family out at a wonderful park in south Tyler from some nature time.  All of us like to be outdoors and this keeps the kids from going stir crazy inside!  The weather was magnificent and the cousins all LOVED running free outside.  Sad that my brother and his wife had to go home before this!

Most photogenic child ever. (if you can catch him or get him to be still long enough!)

The Day We've All Been Waiting For

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't as excited (or more) as my kids about Christmas day.  Although I am still very excited to GET presents, I am also just as excited to GIVE them too.  I make each of the kids something for Christmas and I always get excited for them to open what I've worked hard on, specifically with each of their personalities and likes in mind.  I was very excited for Shawn to open his gifts this year too.  I didn't get him a single thing on his "wishlist."  Of course he didn't really have a list.  But what I mean is, everything I gave him was sentimental this year and I think I hit the nail on the head with a lot of his gifts!

Evidence that I was up, showered and completely ready before a single child woke up.  Still have a hard time sleeping and staying asleep on Christmas Eve.

 The stocking were hung and filled to the brim! 

 We had to wake up 2 of the 3 kids!  We did our traditional moving of the moose to the #25 on our Christmas countdown.

 

Everyone then came bolting down the stairs, eyes wide, mouth wide in disbelief that Santa had come and that they had been deemed "good." 

Here's a picture I snapped of the "blue skittles" that Levi asked Santa to bring.

Ava loves to give homemade gifts.  She draws things for us and puts it in an enveloped and under the tree.  Occasionally she finds a little box and will put something in that and wrap it and stick it under the tree.  You never know what your "gift" will be.  This year, she gave me a box with a picture she had drawn in it, a craft project that we did this summer using those melty beads and she scraped together $1.51 and added that to the box.  I just thought that was the sweetest thing.

After opening all the gifts, we left everything just as it was, packed our bags and upon seeing everyone looking so cute together, I told everyone to head out to the backyard for a family photo! 

 

We sure do coordinate well...wonder who does the shopping around here?

This is the doll closet that Santa made...as in made from scratch.  It's amazing!!!!!  And Ava loves it. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day began with tons of baking.  And no meal would be complete without a Granny Caskey Caramel Pie.  I was showing Elle how to make the edges of the pie look fancy.

 

 

The day was filled with such excitement.  So much so, that Levi eventually asked me to put him to bed.  It was way past naptime so I told him I'd put him on the couch while I was cooking...he was asleep a few minutes later.  So sweet.

 

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to make all the snacky types of foods that we love and this year's menu was probably the most eclectic!  We had potstickers, homemade pretzels, cuties dipped in chocolate, edamame, mashed sweet potatoes, jalapeno poppers, egg rolls, baked tilapia and fish sticks.  Totally crazy, and oh so good.  We were all beyond stuffed after dinner!

And our yearly picture of Shawn reading to the kids.  This was year #36 to read from this exact book.

The kids and I in our jammies...we don't really do Christmas PJ's since they end up not wearing them anyway!

All is calm, all is bright?

Cookies, milk and a note from Elle.  I had good intentions of having everyone write a list to Santa but never sat them down to do it.  Elle took matters into her own hands right before bedtime and wrote Santa.  A few things she asked for, and I quote "I would like an Ipod that can only call my mom and dad, some games on it, bible, and notes for church.  I would also like paint supplies and paint also and an american doll or journey doll and a lot of surprises.  Love, Elle M"  Levi wanted blue skittles.  (this is the second year in a row that that's all he has asked for!)  I'm not sure exactly what Ava wanted and I'm not totally sure she knew either.  But that didn't stop her from giving us hourly updates for the week before Christmas letting us know how many days and/or hours were left until Christmas!  She was beyond excited!

Gingerbread Extravaganza!

Today since the kids had no school and we are antsy for Christmas, I planned a few activities involving gingerbread, in hopes that it would stave off the boredom that comes with unorganized free time! 

One of my favorite things about gingerbread houses is when I get to go to the store and have free reign in the candy aisle!

 

We bought a Wilton kit this year that contained four little houses and it was perfect for us.  No fighting for positions or placements and no one upset that it's not getting decorated the way they want.  All three kids were very into the whole process and loved deciding what candies would go where.  Oh and I'm pretty sure they consumed just as much as what got put on the house....or maybe more.

Up on the rooftop....

After finishing those, we had dinner.  As soon as dinner was over, we cleared off the table and I started rolling out gingerbread cookie dough.  Let me just say, I am so very very thankful that I had the foresight to buy that giant log of premaid refrigerated dough....I was getting a little worn out at this point and it sure was nice just to pull it out of the fridge and roll it out.  I let each kiddo pick one cookie cutter and was relieved to see them picking some of the bigger cookie cutters....bigger cutters = less cookies to deal with!

After we pulled them from the oven, it was time to use up the rest of that candy from the houses.

Ummm...might be just a little heavy on the gummy lifesavers Levi. (Those are airplane shapes under all that!)

You can actually tell it's a frog!

Ava's is a very well decorated gingerbread boy.

And here are my contributions....kids can't have all the fun!

Mikey Mischief

A few of my favorite things Mikey has done this December:

To start with, I loved an idea I saw that had the Elf bringing the theme of white with him when he is reintroduced to the kids and this was so simple to do.  The powdered donuts, which I NEVER buy, were a huge hit with the kids! (and me...I love them so much!)

Here's the note he left

And a good ol' corny joke

One morning he brought elf size hershey's kisses.

One morning he was found on the counter like this.

With one week till Christmas, here's the countdown he made. (Ava has diligently been tearing these tiny rings off every single day....she is very on top of how many days left till Christmas and reminds me hourly, how many are left!)

And just the other day, Mikey left a naughty/nice list....two of our friends' Elfs on a Shelf are on the naughty list too..along with my dad and my parent's dog.  Ha!  The kids were concerned about Poppy being on the naughty list, but I reminded them that things can always change!