Christmas 2013

This year we started a few new Christmas traditions. On Christmas Eve after church we all opened one present. That present was a new set of pajamas, popcorn, candy, and hot chocolate.  We changed into our new pajamas, made our food, and then had a movie night in the basement together. This year we watched the Polar Express (side note: streaming in HD from Amazon on my Smart TV) before putting the kids to bed.  In future years we may choose to watch a different show, maybe a classic, on Christmas Eve.

We started the present festivities at 6:30 in the morning.  Including a quick break for breakfast, it took us about three hours to get through all of it. Most of the time was spent playing with what was just opened, but we also had several fun stocking gifts this year to get through as well. After the party was over we had a second one over at my parent's house for a few hours.

The second tradition we started (sort of continued from my parents) was to have cheese and chocolate fondue for Christmas dinner. It was very delicious and preparation and cleanup was a breeze.  We even had leftovers for the next day, which we looked forward to that afternoon.

On to pictures.  I rarely post this many, so you know that there are some good ones.  I love the shots of the kids reactions to opening a gift.  You can tell they are having so much fun.

Family Photos

Winners: 2013 Cutest Kids Award!  That makes three years in a row...

Four Eyes, Four Swings, & Four Wheels

Jonathan receiving fashion advice from Uncle Pat, Julia at the batting cages for the first time (she actually made contact with several balls) after a round of miniature golf, and Jonathan at Toys R Us.  When he climbed into the police car he said, "I want to get someone". Ha!

Julia's 6th Birthday Party

Ever since Jonathan had his birthday at Chuck E. Cheese, Julia was set on having her next birthday party there.  It worked really well for us too, since it required minimal planning on our part after being out of town the weekend before. Julia invited four other girls to join her...Julia, Rachel, Emma, and Evie.  Julia is our next door neighbor, she met Rachel in preschool, and Emma and Evie are in her kindergarten class.

Food, cake, and ice cream preceded presents.  Most of the game playing happened after the party.  Julia had a ton of fun, even though she wasn't feeling 100%. After a couple of hours we were all ready to go.  Since the weather was bad and it was a Saturday, the place was really busy.  One employee told us they had 19 parties planned for today.

The presents were a big hit. Thanks to everyone for contributing.

Foul Weather Friend

When it gets cold outside, the heat mooch shows up. She didn't care much for what was on TV, just my lap.

Thanksgiving

This year we flew up to Washington and spent the holiday weekend with Stacey's family.  We had a good time seeing friends and family, even if it meant spending more time with our young kids in a car, a train, on an airplane and in a hotel.  It's not easy, but our kids probably make it easier than most.

We spent most of our time there on three things:  eating, drinking, and/or hanging out. Whatever we did involved one or more (sometimes all three) of these things.  Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?  

We enjoyed our time up there once again and are thankful for the opportunity to visit. It was a special event since all of Stacey's family was together in one place this year. I think that last time that happened was in 2010 in Seattle, but it was only for a few hours.