Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas this year.  One of the reasons (thanks to Pinterest) was that instead of putting candy in our advent calendar we had little cards with activities.  Here's the list of them (so I don't forget for next year) in no particular order:

1. Do a craft with Mom
2. Paige date with Dad
3. Logan date with Dad
4. Aubrey date with Dad
5. Read Christmas book together
6. Deliver treats to teachers
7. Deliver treats to friends
8. Christmas Eve dinner & See lights
9. Read story of Jesus' birth
10. Go to Brunswick Zone
11. Movie night with Cousins
12. Open Gift from Grandma
13. Shop for the Giving Tree
14. Make gingerbread house
15. FHE with Babbitts
16. Go to Chuck E Cheeses
17. Make Peppermint Popcorn
18. Make hot chocolate
19. Make countdown chain
20. HF gift & Sleep under the tree
21. Fun babysitter
22. Go to a movie at the theater
then a couple were to have a special treat (drumsticks and cookie sandwiches). 



The girls loved it and even though it took a bit more planning on my part it was totally worth it.  I loved it.  It also helped that Todd works from home AND had the entire week before Christmas off AND I was pretty much done Christmas shopping before the kids even got out of school.  It felt like I had a lot of time to focus on having fun with the kids this year - and that was a good thing.

On Wednesday the 21st Todd's mom flew into town bringing her dog Baxter for us.  We surprised the girls and once they figured out we got to keep him they were super excited.  We got a foot of snow that evening delaying Mom's flight a couple of hours.

The kids looked like this at 11pm.

 And like this at 11:30pm.

They've been really good with him and we all love him already. He's a quick learner and already so well trained it has been surprisingly easy and just super fun.


We had a yummy Christmas Eve dinner with the other Babbitts and then opened jammies together.  I feel like we JUST took this picture (2006 - Bre isn't even born yet).

And now they look like this.

(Insert big sigh).

We loved having Christmas land on a Sunday this year. Paige was the first awake (at 7:00) and they got to see what Santa brought them. For Logan it was a bike with gears, Paige got an "American Girl" doll (the cheap Target version) and Aubrey got a Squinkie gum ball machine thing and a stuffed dog. They were all happy.

 After seeing what Santa brought us we made our traditional waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and then headed to church.  I can't believe I didn't get a good picture of them in their cute dresses.  Maybe they'll wear their Christmas dresses next week and let me take a picture and I'll pretend it was Christmas morning.

After church we headed back to the Babbitts to open our presents together.  It took 2 hours!  It was 1:30 when we finally finished.  Longest Christmas morning ever!  It was great though.  Here's Logan in her new blanket...

And cute Todd...

 and me in my new Broncos hat.

 One of my favorite parts of Christmas was watching how excited the girls were to give each other the presents they had picked out on their dates with Dad.  They were super thoughtful about what they gave each other and it was sweet.  Love those girls!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!