Christmas 2011

Christmas was amazing this year! It is so much fun now that Jake "gets it." A couple weeks ago our Elf on the Shelf joined us. I told Jake we needed to name our elf and he looked at Julianna's hair bow and said "how about Bow?" Brian was thrilled thinking it was for Bo Jackson...not so much. So, Bow it was and every morning the first thing out of their mouths was "where's Bow?" Bow has gone back to the North Pole and they still ask about him. I for one am glad, it was tough to remind Bow to find a new perch every evening.

I did my annual cookie bake again this year. I made 7 different kinds of cookies and passed them out to friend and teachers. Jake helped quite a bit and was very proud to decorate the sugar cookies...yes LOTS of colored sugar on top (and all over the floor) but who cares? It's Christmas!


Finally Christmas Eve rolled around (Jake asked every day if it was Christmas morning). We had a quiet day and then went to church. We go to the kids service so we aren't a disturbance. They enjoyed the music and standing up to sing songs. I tried to get a cute picture of the two of them when we got home. I try to do that alot...works about 10% of the time.


I was expecting a 5am wake up call but our kids (unfortunately thanks to some very runny noses) slept until after 7:00! I actually had to wake Julianna up because there was no stopping Jake. Santa came and brought Jake new drums (yes Brian and I are crazy for allowing Santa to do this) and Julianna a kitchen.




We spent the morning opening the mountain of presents under our tree (I tend to go overboard and this year was no exception!). Jake and Julianna LOVE to Skype so both sets of grandparents got to see them open their gifts. Such fun to watch the kids show off their presents. My mom likes to send some funny gifts so she bought some Christmas marshmallows. Wouldn't you know Julianna's favorite things that morning were her very own Cinderella Tervis tumbler and the bag of marshmallows.


Over the years we have started new traditions. Brian started cooking this unbelieveable breakfast...Captain Crunch French Toast (courtesy of his favorite show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives). And this year we decided to go out for Christmas dinner. Yes, I thought it was a little sinful but secretly was thrilled! No dishes to clean or pots to put away. There was already plenty of mess in the house! We went to this fabulous little Italian place and let me tell you were not the only ones to buck tradition!

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! We are truly blessed to have Jake and Julianna (not to mention our newest addition coming in March). They give us so much joy and happiness! I hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas and have a safe and Happy New Year!