Christmas 2012
Christmas Eve we started off by cleaning the house. Isn't that what everyone does? Santa doesn't come to messy houses. After we cleaned and got ready we headed out for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at our favorite Italian place, Lui Lui's. Last year we were the only people there but this year there was an hour long wait. So we headed into the mall to kill some time. (and when I say mall...I mean a big LL Bean and EMS with a few little boutiques in between.)
The kids posed on Santa's sleigh
Then we ate some fantastic food
Afterwards we headed to Claremont, NH where we had heard there was an amazingly lit up house. We are still wondering if it was worth the drive...but the kids loved it.
They had a path where you could walk around and they had a scavenger hunt where you could look for certain things (like 12 candles, 11 soliders, etc) It was all set to music and it was a fun activity.
Then we came home and started our traditions of reading and acting out the nativity, drinking wassil and egg nog (that Sawyer kept calling "door knob" all month), opening our pajamas, and writing our letters to Santa.
Then Ryan read Twas the Night Before Christmas by the fire
And then the kids practically ran to bed they were so excited.
The next morning was fun but I didn't get many pictures.
Kate got the new Tinkerbell movie and a set of all the Tinkerbell dolls for Christmas and a snowglobe with an ice skater in it from Santa.
Sawyer got a boy american girl doll that he named Freddy and a snowglobe with a bear in it. We watched The Santa Clause and ever since then that was the main thing he asked Santa for. He wanted one with two trees and a house...but the elves were only making ones with bears in them this year! He was happy.
Clara got a ball popper machine like the one we had for the other kids but stopped working and a soft stuffed bunny. She sure loves to hug and love on stuffed animals!
Ryan and I had a few big projects that we made for the kids. He made beds for the American Girl dolls while I made the bedding and then I had bought a wooden rocking horse at a thrift store for 1.75 that I repainted and added hair to for Clara.
Ryan also, last minute, made our family marshmallow shooters. They are a little hard to shoot but we had a lot of fun with them. And Clara had fun cleaning up all the marshmallows.
And here is the present Kate made us in school, a stained glass candle holder. We used it as a centerpiece for dinner. It is beautiful!
It was a great Christmas morning unwrapping gifts, talking to family, and eating yummy breakfast food.
We spent the rest of the day playing, relaxing and eating. We also did some Christmas hot tubbing. I took the picture from my warm kitchen where I was making dinner.
And then eating our Christmas feast...amidst the Christmas mess
Although we missed being near family, we had a very Merry Christmas and we hope you all did too!
