Holiday Stuff

In December we did many of the normal things to prepare for Christmas.  We continued our tradition of opening a different Christmas book each night in December, which was still a big hit.  We decided to forego cutting down a Christmas tree and went to a lot instead.  In a moment of genius (yes, I have them occasionally) I stocked up on shatter proof ornaments after Christmas last year.  The boys loved decorating the tree this year, so most of our ornaments were at the bottom.  Charlie couldn't quite get the hooks on the branches, but was happy bringing them to Jack to hang up.  We had fun!

Of course the highlight was the train under the tree.  The night we were putting it up, Jack ate the fastest dinner ever in his life and immediately started getting the trains out of their boxes.  It was so cute.

We went to see Santa at Bass Pro and for the first time in four years we had no tears!  Charlie was very serious and was not sure about the man holding his hands.  Jack was excited to tell Santa he wanted Legos and after Charlie was safely a few steps away from the big man, he told him he'd like some candy.

The weekend before Christmas we went to a cookie decorating party at the Pressons' house.  The boys had fun decorating cookies, making gingerbread houses and playing with their friends.  The grown-ups enjoyed sitting around the dining room table after dinner while the kids played (mostly) peacefully downstairs.

Here are some pictures of them being silly in their Christmas jammies.