Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas!

We opened our Christmas pajamas on Saturday evening. (Thanks, grandma!) Sunday morning we enjoyed a breakfast of fruit, cinnamon rolls and orange rolls. We enjoyed church and came home to some lunch. We didn't start opening gifts until around 1 pm (after putting jammies back on, of course) and enjoyed a relaxed time together, including a fun visit to the neighbors. Here is a highlight for each of the children:

Abby - She has wanted a unicorn pillow pet ever since the week after Christmas last year. Her reaction to seeing it was priceless. Abby loves anything cozy and this certainly fits the bill!

Briton - Briton asked for a variety of things but one of the first things he asked for was a backpack. He loves Thomas the Train so Santa brought him a Thomas backpack. I was a bit concerned that he might wonder where all the other things he'd asked for were, but he was (and still is) thrilled with the backpack. He has loaded and unloaded it countless times!

Hannah - Our cute little one still doesn't get the present idea, but she was pleased as punch to walk around and figure out what the rest of us were up to. She received some clothes, a doll cradle and doll, some winter accessories and more.

Of course, with all the presents, toys and stuff the kids got, here is what has received the most attention over the last couple days:

The missionaries helped them cut doors into the boxes and they have loaded them up with blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, toys, etc. It has been really cute to watch. Last night the kids asked to sleep in their "cozy places". I was skeptical about how much sleeping would actually take place, but they surprised me...and even slept in a bit. (Mike suggested that next year we hang out at the entrance of Walmart and ask people with big boxes if we can give them $5 for the boxes instead of all the other gifts.)

(PS These are from the new beds the kids received.)

Some Pre-Christmas

I have not blogged for a while. Before I make a Christmas post, here are some of our other December comings and goings. More than comings and goings we've had "stayings". December has been a relatively low key month for us and we have (intentionally) kept it pretty calm.

The pictures are in reverse chronological order...

Abby had her preschool Christmas program and we were happy to all be able to attend.

We celebrated Mike's birthday.

One of our favorite December traditions is the Peacock Road Tree Farm. I have posted about this the past 2 years. We enjoy taking the train to the North Pole to visit Santa in his cottage and roast marshmallows and drink hot cocoa. This year we ran into some friends while we were there and enjoyed visiting with them. We also took the horse wagon to see Santa because the train was full. It was a fun change.

Briton is involved with Michigan's Early On program for his speech services. We have loved all the support they've provided to him and to us. (We're sad that when he turns 3 in February he'll transition out of Early On.) Last year, we missed the Early On Christmas party because of our new baby so we were excited to attend this year as a family. The girls got sick so it just ended up being Mike and Briton that attended. Mike raved about the party for days afterward! They had such a good time and the organizers were nice enough to send goodie bags (complete with cookies and decorating supplies) home for Abby and Hannah. We have some great videos of Briton playing the games - throwing puff balls at blow up reindeer to knock them down. He was, ahem, a bit over-anxious to hit the reindeer. Maybe I'll get some of the videos uploaded:)

November 30th was the first real snow storm out here. It was a doozy. We got 8-10 inches of snow and the schools were closed for a day:) So much fun! Lots of playing, sledding, shoveling...

And, here are the kids in the tub with mountains of bubbles.