Christmas at Home

Santa stopped by our house a night early... on the 23rd. We celebrate early at home, on the morning of Christmas Eve, so we can celebrate with our extended family on the 25th. It's the way I celebrated growing up and I am glad to extend the tradition of St. Nick coming a night early!

You can see the tree and stockings were all ready for Three Hoots to discover.
(Pictures taken after midnight on the 23rd... Santa waited too long to wrap and get organized this year!)

Tearing into their stockings...

Excited about his HexBug which lasted all of 48 hours before it was broken by his little brother!!

Favorite gift of the season... a Spark Scooter.

Favorite gift of the Season.... American Girl Dolls. Kirsten pictured here.

His favorite gift of the season... Legos (not pictured here!).

Christmas with the Hoots

Here are a couple pictures of the Christmas Merriment with The Hoots' Family.

One of the gals of the day was to get a good photo of all five of the grand-kids... not an easy task! Getting five kids to look in one direction and smile is a form of torture. (For the kids and the adults!) The photo above was one of the better ones.

Check out the kids in this photo... some crazy eyes, a frown. antlers, and superman hands on hips... and this was one of the better ones.

The big boys. Getting so old.

Rockin' around the Christmas Tree.

Brenda Lee would be proud.

A prized gift of the day.... Pirates of the Caribbean Lego Set.

Liv's prized gift... American Girl "Kit". Livy says this is her new twin.

Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a Good Night!

Gingerbread Houses

Yesterday at school, the twins made these brilliant "gingerbread" houses. I don't think I have ever seen them so proud of any creation! (Don't let Isaac's long face fool you- he has decided to no longer smile in pictures- he was very excited).

Check out the masterpieces...

Decorating the Tree

Christmas ornaments were a big deal in the family I grew up in. Every year my Aunt, grandmother, and various other relatives gave all the children in the family an ornament. Often they were collectible, based on a special memory, or found on a vacation during the previous year. They did this to build up a set of ornaments for each child when they were grown, and also because they loved Christmas.

Because of this family tradition (and because of other circumstances that I will explain later) I have a lot of ornaments. But, I am happy to have too many. It means I have been well loved through childhood and beyond.

I am so thankful for all the people the ornaments represent, but today I am particularly thankful for my grandmother. She made Christmas magical for me and today is her 83rd Birthday. I love you Granny!

Check out my 3 elves!

I will show you some of my favorite ornaments later.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Need a reminder? I certainly do.

Dare to Dream

Last night we went to watch Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream
with a group of friends.
It was awesome and the kids (and I) really enjoyed the show.

Here are a couple shots of the night...

The original Disney Dream Team.

A scene from "The Princess and the Frog".

Even though it was mostly Princess centered
(like much of Disney now - ugh!)-
even the boys were entertained and enjoyed the show.

This little lady certainly liked it the most.

My favorite part of the show was the "Tangled" segment. I love the movie and I loved it on ice. Above you can see Rapunzel and Flynn Rider flying through the air on Rapunzel's hair. It was incredible. They are not even "tied in" they are just holding on to the ribbons (hair).

Another favorite scene was the song "I've Got a Dream!" from Tangled.

Need some cheering up? Watch the original song clip from the movie...

Fun with Friends.

Two handsome boys.

And I leave you today with this quote...

I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing —
that it was all started by a mouse.- Walt Disney

Don't get me wrong- I love a princess, especially Cinderella with her good attitude and Rapunzel with her dreams and cheerful spirit. But, I wish we could go back to basics a little and remember the mouse! Next year I want to see "Back to our Roots- The Mouse Years on Ice"!