As excited as he was to see Santa, the Caboose really, really wanted to see the Grinch. We saw him last year and the boys loved it! The Grinch gave him a broken candy cane and the Caboose thought it was SOOO funny! He talked about it all year, and would laugh "That silly Grinch!"
We were so excited to have my niece come spend Christmas break with us. Here the kids are making gingerbread houses at Nanna's with cousin Kari.
This is a tradition my mom started back when I was a kid! It's a ton of work for her but we all just love it!
Here's how BB#2 described it in a school writing assignment: "So much candy made in to a house? You can't miss!!! You feel like a gingerbread builder when you build a gingerbread house. It makes you very happy. But then eating it thebest part. You say "Destroy" and crush the house to pieces. It tastes so good. The taste is so good, it's indescribable. You feel like a giant going to destroy a city."
Can you even FIND the house for all the candy on this thing? Their goal was to cover every possible inch with candy. I think they achieved their goal. Crazy! (My favorite part is the little pond - melted Jolly Ranchers - complete with candy fish.)
One treat for me this holiday season was when my old college roommate came into town. We had lunch and went shopping. SO much fun! She's from Arizona and was mesmerized by the snow - "Look! We're leaving footprints as we walk!" Ha!
This year was a white Christmas with lots of snow. On Christmas Eve Diamond took the boys sledding. Except for Big Boy #2, who had walking pneumonia all break.
From BB#2's paper: "The snow feels like needles hitting your skin. You flip and flop but still try, try again until you amke it all the way down the steep hill. Sledding is one of hte most fun activities of the season."
Christmas Eve is always celebrated at my parents house. Dinner and the nativity. Here are the wise men (wise boys?)
The nativity with all the cousins:
We always have the kids play their musical instruments as part of the program. This year Big Boy #2 performed on the trombone for the first time:
Another tradition is that we have some kind of hunt or activity where the kids 'earn' their new jammies. We did a variation of the Amazing Race for the pajama hunt this year. One of the tasks was organizing these drawing of the life of Christ in chronological order. The kids also had to memorize what the angels said to the shepherds and eat some goat cheese and olives.
After the pajama hunt Christmas Eve. (This years jammies have the helmets of all the NFL teams.)
All the cousins in their new Christmas jammies. (BB#2 is doing the Tebow.)
The boys call this the Christmas Club. On Christmas Eve they all gather in Big Boy #1's bedroom to play games and eat snacks while waiting for Santa. They go so far as to drag in an extra mattress.
After Santa came: This year's big gift was a new TV and entertainment center for the family. (Thus the huge boxes.)
Big Boy #1 was thrilled to get a 'chalker' - the device that sprays chalk on sports fields - for the backyard. The Caboose's favorite gift was a light up scooter. And they all were excited for the new wii game, Madden 12.
Big Boy #2's favorite gifts were a Bronco's coat and tickets to the opening night of the Nuggets.
Since Christmas was on Sunday this year, we took a break from the festivities to head to church. We normally have church at 9:00am, but they moved it back to 10:00 for Christmas day. Thank goodness! I was about to launch a full rebellion over having such an early service! Here are my handsome boys!
After church we headed over to my parents for Christmas Part II. (The kids regularly say that Nanna and Grandpa are better than Santa.) Probably the biggest surprise of the afternoon was when Dad got Mom an iPad. She was so surprised! I love her expression.
At Nanna's, Big Boy #1 scored this programmable, electronic sign. The perfect addition to his diet Pepsi Center! He spent the whole afternoon playing with it and getting it to say cool things.
The Caboose scored a Nintendo dsXL. He LOVES it and plays on it waaaaay too much.
At BB#2 scored a nice, new bike. As well as some new ds and wii games.
Overall, it was a great Christmas. My favorite part is that we enjoy so much down time without all the hustle and busyness of regular life. No school, no scouts, no sports, nothing but family time. Merry Christmas!
