Christmas Day 2012

I think the pictures speak for themselves....

Christmas 2011

This year we celebrated Christmas at our house a little early since Jenny spent Christmas Day with her mom this year. Aiden didn't really understand the difference, and Jenny was very excited that we were going to get to open gifts early and also because Santa came to our house early too!

We did everything just the way we would have done it on the actual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On our Christmas Eve we baked gingerbread cookies for Santa, set out the cookies a milk for Santa, and then read The Night Before Christmas and The Christmas Story before putting the kids to bed.

Santa was up very late this year getting all of Aiden and Jenny's toys set up and their presents wrapped ( next year, remind me to wrap gifts a few days before Christmas Eve!). At our house Santa doesn't wrap gifts - he brings them unwrapped, opened, and already put together and ready to play with. Any gifts at our house that are wrapped are from Jaime and I, or from someone other than Santa. That's how it worked when I was growing up, so that's how we do it now with our kids. Something new we started this year, was having Santa only bring 3 gifts each - the same amount of gifts Jesus was brought when He was born. :)

Aiden's stuff on the left; Jenny's stuff on the right.

Aiden was the first to wake up the next morning, around 9:00am. He woke Jaime and I up, and then we woke up Jenny. The kids began playing with their Santa stuff and then we opened gifts from each other. Once all the gifts were opened, we ate breakfast and everyone got dressed so we could go outside and let Aiden ride his new bike.

 

Santa forgot to bring Aiden a helmet...oops! Don't worry, we have already purchased a new one for him. Aiden was not too impressed with his bike at all. He liked it at first, but got frustrated with the pedals so he gave up. We haven't had a chance to really try again, but we will try again soon!

Jenny on the other hand (who needs a new helmet), rode her bike without training wheels by herself for the first time!! We have been working with her on this for a few weeks so it was nice to finally see her do it on her own. She was very proud of herself too! We're hoping to get her a new bike this Spring once the weather warms up a little as her bike is getting a little small for her.

After bike riding, we came back inside and the kids played some more with their new stuff. While they played, Jaime and I made lunch. We had ham, dressing, green beans, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and rolls. After lunch the rest of the day was spent playing with all of the new toys the kids received. It was a wonderful day! I hope you all had a great Christmas, too!

Pictures with Santa 2011

Jaime and I took the kids to the mall last night to have their picture made with Santa. Aiden told Santa that he wants "the biggest Power Ranger he has ever seen in the whole wide world". Haha! I know I'm biased, but Aiden is the funniest kid I know!

Here is their picture from this year... (Aiden is almost 3 and Jenny is 6)

Picture from 2010 (Aiden had just turned 2 and Jenny was 5)

2009 (Aiden was 1 and Jenny was 4)

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas, filled with good family and friends. It is so nice to live so close to my parents, my brother, and a few of my cousins so that we don't have traveling to do around the holidays. We did Christmas Eve at our house last year, so this year we had it at my cousin's house and it was so nice! The kids all really enjoy playing together and it's great to have us all together.

On Christmas Eve we went to my cousin's house and celebrated with pizza and lots of fun games. My cousin's boys had already opened some of their gifts and all three of them each got a game. We all really enjoyed sitting around together playing their games. They got Clue, Break the Ice, and Elefun. Clue and Break the Ice are games that I played as a kid, but Elefun was new to me.

Aiden loved playing with and watching the train set that Jacob had. He sat there for a long time just watching it go round and round. He has had a train set at home that he got for his birthday, but it was one where he had to push the train himself. This one, was an automatic train. So it went around by itself. (Luckily, Santa already had a motorized train coming for him).

It is really great that my cousin and I have kids who are close in age. Jenny (5) and her son Matthew (6) play really well together, and so do Aiden (2) and her son Jacob (3). Her oldest son, Andrew (9), gets to hang out with the adults since all the other kids are so much younger than him. I think he likes that better anyway. :)

After going to my cousins house, we came home and Jenny and I baked a quick batch of Santa cookies. She and Aiden put a few cookies and a glass of milk out on the table for Santa to snack on later. Then we quickly read "The Night Before Christmas" and a few verses from the Bible in Luke 2. After that, Jenny and Aiden went to bed. They were really excited about Santa coming so it took them a while to fall asleep. Once they fell asleep, Jaime and I got their Santa stuff ready.

I don't know how Santa does it at your house, but here he always brings everything already opened and ready to play with. So Jaime and I opened and put together everything and installed the necessary batteries. Getting the Santa stuff ready is so much fun! This year I bought all their stuff before December so there were a lot of things that I forgot I even bought. I always get so excited thinking about their reactions in the morning when they see all their new stuff!

Aiden's Thomas train set,  Handy Manny toolbox, and remote control car.

Aiden's monkey Pillow Pet, Woody doll, Cars slippers, Vtech Baby game, and Mr. Potato Head

Jenny's Spongebob Vtech game, iSpy Puzzle, Cootie game, Trouble game, and lady bug Pillow Pet

Jenny's iCarly playset, Vtech computer, cupcake slippers, remote control car, and Vtech Kiddizoom camera

On Christmas Day, Jaime and I woke up early and then woke up the kids. When I was a kid I remember always waking up real early on Christmas Day and being so excited, but with Aiden and Jenny, I always have to wake them up and remind them that Santa came. Haha! They were both very pleased with what Santa brought them. I think Aiden's favorite was his Thomas train set (duh!) and Jenny's favortie was her Vtech Kiddizoom camera. They spent all morning playing with their things before breakfast. For breakfast I made a breakfast casserole and waffles.

Later that afternoon, it started snowing! At first it was coming down pretty lightly and it wasn't sticking to anything.  We went to my cousin's house  for Christmas dinner and the food was great! We had ham, corn, green beans, homemade mashed potatoes, mac n' cheese, and biscuits. I also made a Butterfinger cake for dessert (yummy!). The kids played some more, and a few of the adults played Clue with Andrew. While we were there, the snow really started coming down harder and before we knew it, the ground was covered in about and inch of snow! Of course, all the kids (and the "big kids") headed outside to play in it. We had a snowball fight, and poor Jaime really got ganged up on! It was all in fun though. ;)

Since it was snowing and we were afraid the roads might start to freeze over, we went to my mom's house to do our family gift exchange. After that, Jaime, the kids, and I all went home and spent the rest of the night playing with the stuff Santa brought. Jenny got some games from Santa and Uncle Billy that she really likes. We played those most of the night. Aiden was even able to play one of them with us.

Today we've spent all day in our pajamas still playing with Santa stuff. Tonight some of Jaime's friends are coming over and we're gonna eat and have a little game night. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, we definitely did!!