The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

I had to demonstrate a lot of discipline not to take off more than two weeks this holiday season. I just love all of the pre-Christmas fun and activities as much as the actual day and want them to last for as long as possible.

Madison has loved helping me do the gift wrapping for a few years, but Carter just realized how fun it is this year. He will wrap as many gifts as I will put in front of him! We love watching them pile up under the tree! As always, the kids each pick a special paper for all of their gifts to be wrapped in...so they can easily find which ones are theirs.

On Friday, we asked some special friends to come over and make tree ornaments with us. I found a cute pattern online using craft sticks. Of course, we ended up making some up on our own too. Chelita is a blast. Like me, she just never completely grew out of her love of playing! We laugh a lot together and just get one another...Madison is right in the middle of it too!

Here are ourfinished products. It took the boys a little longer to settle down and get busy on theirs. We have four boys between the two of us, so they have a lot of fun together! After the boys settled down and were ready to create, they chose what they wanted to make. Patrick chose the tree and Carter the reindeer. Of course, Madison didn't stop with just one ornament. She ended up making the tree, a reindeer, and a couple of stars. We love our craft sticks!!

On Saturday, we made our gingerbread house. Patrick had a little trouble getting into it after getting sick off of too much of the icing last year..haha. As always, we loved eating all of the little candies that go on the house. I guess we will start eating the house soon...it's just so hard to break it down after spending the time making it!!! Maybe we'll invite Santa to have some of it! On Sunday morning, we went to Jeff's parent's church to see their amazing Christmas program. I was so glad that we made the decision to go. It was such a blessing!! That evening, we met with the rest of Jeff's family for our Christmas time together. We had a great time. I think it gets funner as the kids get older. The kids sang some for us, and we enjoyed a delicious meal before opening gifts. It is such a fun time. We always try to start out opening the gifts one at at time, but it always falls apart after the kids all have their toys, which is part of what makes it so much fun. Jeff's parents got me an amazing laminater ....way better than what I asked them for. I am so appreciative of it and have already used it. The funnest part of the night for me was sitting back after the gifts were opened and watching the kids play!!

We've had a great Christmas so far. I look forward to the next few days and week! We'll paint some crafts and make Christmas candy tomorrow while we wait to leave for my parent's house tomorrow night for Christmas Eve. It always seems like such a long wait, so I thought I would fill the day with things to occupy us all!!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. I hope you are having a great holiday season!!