Twas the Night before CHRISTmas

After our friends left we did presents.

We always let the kids exchange presents between themselves!

Waiting but not Patiently!


Spencer gave Britt this!



Brittnee gave Carter this!

Carter gave this to Spencer!




Of course the Annual PJ's from the Parents!



Now off to bed so that Santa can come!

Loves, hugs, and visions of sugar plum kisses,

EMILY

CHRISTmas Eve PM

For Christmas Eve I cooked a ham, sour cream tatos, rolls, had chips, cookies, m&m's!

We invited some friends over for dinner and games!

First we enjoyed our feast!

The kids enjoyed some Bakugan.
We played a little Mario on the Wii!
Then we played Scene It!
All the while tracking SANTA on Norad.com!
What a fun night!

Loves, hugs, and Wii wishes,

EMILY

Cookies for Santa

I have a confession. I am so not the mom who rolls out cookie dough and uses cutters to make cute shapes and then bake them and then frost the cookies! That is so not me. I am the mom who goes to the store and buys the perfectly shaped, perfectly frosted and decorated cookies! Well not this time! A few weeks ago my boys went to a friends house and the mom let them do the real "cookies"! They bought them home and we were impressed! I decided to give it a try!

It seemed like a great thing to do on Christmas Eve Morning to pass the time! I kinda cheated..I bought the dough but we still rolled it our and used cutters (thanks Dollar Tree)!

There was flour everywhere! The kids were a mess! The kitchen was hot and a mess!

The kids loved each and every minute of it!

Finally 3 big pans and 2 little pans later the cookies are cooked!

We went to a matinee while the cookies cooled!

Then home to decorate the cookies! They were great!

Daddy joined in the fun of decorating too.....he decorated Brittnee!

What a fun thing to do.....once a year on

Christmas Eve Day!

Another task to cross off the list!

Loves, hugs, and floury kisses!

EMILY

Letters to Santa

This year the kids took it upon themselves to do thier letters!

We usually do it as a family but this year was crazy (again)!

They wrote thier letters and begged us to take them to the giant SANTA!

SIGNED and DELIVERED!

Another task done 1000 more to go!

loves, hugs, and Santa Letter wishes,

EMILY

Neighbor Gifts!

This year I decided on my Neighbor Gifts early! I decided to put candy in STAR dishes with a Great Christmas star poem. Every time I went to the Dollar Store and they had them, I bought a few star dishes. Now its the week before Christmas and I have to do the candy. I decided to do my Almond Toffee Balls. They take a lot of powdered sugar!

Add some butter and some sweetened condensed milk!


Scoop them onto a pan and let them freeze! Roll into balls! This is sticky!
Finally dip in chocolate. At this point I am in tears and wondering why I do this to myself!

Finally they are dipped (not beautifully of course!) and rolled in nuts!

More COLD time!

Finally they are divided out into their "Stars"

Wrapped and tagged!

All ready to deliver!

We only gave out about 9 dishes plus a ton of little bags of candy! The kids love delivering the treats! I love that they are gone and I don't have to think of them anymore. Seriously this year if I can find a chocolate fountain for cheap I might make candy next year!

Loves, hugs, and chocolate dipped kisses!

Emily

Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

We decorated for Christmas on Friday! We put up the nativity and little decorations during the day. Then that night when Daddy got home we did the tree. Dave has been in charge of the lights on the tree since we have been married. Finally 2 years ago he went and bought a tree with lights attached to it! So all he has to do is set up the tree and video tape! Mom sets out all the ornaments with their hooks and takes pictures! The kiddos hang the ornaments!

They love hanging the ornaments. We usually buy a new ornament every year and the kids love to find their ones from previous years! Dave's mom bought us an angel when we were first married and we have used it every since to be the Tree Topper! It has one of those bubble things that when it heats up it bubbles. Do you know what I mean? Its very cool!

Spencer got to put the angel on this year! He was so excited.

Here are all the kids with the decorated tree! It looks so cute! It fits our Family perfectly!


Notice Tony Stewart watching over our Tree for us!




Here is the Nativity! It is Brittnee's. My mom and sister painted the grandkids a set in 1999! Since the boys weren't born yet they don't have one. I love this Nativity! Notice that the Baby Jesus is not in the scene yet. I have a huge pet peeve about this. In our family

we have the tradition of waking up on Christmas morning and before we do anything

else we put the Baby Jesus in the Nativity, sing a song and say a prayer.

If I go to anyone's house and see that they have their Jesus in the scene

I will tell them that he isn't supposed to be there yet.

Drives some people nuts!

Its what we did when I was little and I will make sure my kids do it when

they have their own families!

My Mom in Law now knows the right way about Baby Jesus!

Here is the table in our Living room! I have my "Teach the Children" tree on it.

I love this! It was introduced to me by my sister. It has a little story

that goes with the tree. You read the story and place the ornaments on at a specific time.

When I was first married my mom and sisters all got together

and made these for our families! Every year we start the season off with the

reading "Teach the Children" to remind the kids the true reason we

celebrate Christmas!


Here is the shelf in the living room! It has a few more Nativities! Without Jesus of course.
Well except for the wooden one and he is permanently attached to Mary's arms!

I love this! This is new to my house this year. Thanks Mommy!

My mom made these last year for her sisters and friends. I planned on making one

but uh well I didn't. My Sweet Mom knew how bad I wanted one and

that I would never make myself one so she made it for me!

It is made of lots of little scraps of paper, jewels, glitter and chalking!

Its amazing! A wonderful addition to our home!

Yes Jesus is in this one too but its a picture!

I am definitely ok with Jesus being added to a picture made by my Mom!

I have a few more things to put up and I will take pictures of them and post them soon!

I love sitting by the Christmas tree with its great Lights,

listening to Christmas music,

Looking at the Nativity!

I love Christmas time!

loves, hugs, and Decorating Kisses,

emily

Thanksgiving 2009

I didn't actually take any pictures of Thanksgiving! I was too busy eating the great food! We did however take our Annual Hall Family Pictures! Thanks to Mel (who is pregnant and stood on stool for us) we got some great shots!





We had a great Thanksgiving! We love visiting with family and eating great food! Thanks to our wonderful families for making Thanksgiving great!

Love, hugs, and Turkey kisses,

emily