Christmas Catch Up!

We'll start with Bernice...she made her last appearance on Christmas Eve and revealed to us that she had been hunting for Jesus during her visit...He was the special gift!  She found him in the nativity and followed up with a letter about how pleased she was to find that we included Christ in our Christmas celebrations.  The kids LOVED celebrating with Bernice this year and I'm sure she'll return again.  She set the bar pretty high...I hope next year is just as fun!

Santa visits our house on Christmas Eve and brings the kids one present to open as a 'teaser.'  My uncle Tim used to to this when I was a kid and I love that we have continued the tradition.  Luckily, my kids don't run the other way when he walks in the front door, like I did as a child!

It's so hard to get a picture of all 5 of us looking the same direction and NOT MOVING!  You can't even see Santa or Nate!  

Leaving out cookies and milk and getting ready to head to bed wearing their new jammies from Santa.  There are a few things that our family rarely takes for granted...having a reason to wear jammies instead of real clothes and the opportunity to eat ice cream for no reason!  We did a lot of both over Christmas break (thanks Roper family)!

AND HE CAME!

The stockings were hung...

Santa had a special gift for the kids that couldn't be wrapped and he wanted to assemble early, so he left a yarn maze all over the kitchen and living room.  Each kid had their own color of yarn to follow, which lead them to Santa's present to them (not an idea that I came up with on my own...I stole it)!

Santa gifted the boys an air hockey table! 

And he left Adri a bag full of dress ups (including the most coveted fairy wings) and a doodle bear!

Merry Christmas, kids!  As a parent, doesn't the holiday have an entirely different meaning than when you were a kid and getting all of the gifts?  

The last few years, Nate has stressed over what to get his brother and sister.  He loves giving them gifts and makes sure that he has the money set aside to purchase them something, LONG before Christmas (he gets that from Daddy).  This year, he chose some books from the Scholastic book orders that came home with Gabe.  He really loves reading to Gabe and Adri and he LOVES, even more, that he can remind them that he picked out those books just for them.  Adri only had a few dollars in her piggy bank, but carefully choose an eraser for each of her brothers from the toy dispenser at Meijer :)  Daddy took Gabe out to help him choose gifts for Adri and Nate.  He picked a whoopi (how do you spell that word?) cushion for Nate and a tea set for Adri.  Nothing beats the look on their faces when they open up gifts from one another!  Just another reason I heart Christmas!

I don't think our TV was on for at least a week after Christmas.  Our table, however, was unusable because it was covered in Legos!  The boys spent hours and hours building helicopters, tractors, castles and dinosaurs with their new Lego sets.

 This was the 4th year that instead of gifts for our 20 + nieces and nephews (I lost count), we take them out for an evening together!  We visited Snapperz this year and I think everyone enjoyed the games, tunnels, slides, and company!

The Snapperz employee that took this picture probably shouldn't consider photography as a profession :) 

So, there it is...2 1/2 weeks of family outings, sleeping in, not wearing makeup or real clothes, no homework, cinnamon rolls for breakfast (thanks, Clark), falling asleep on the couch and waking up at 3 a.m. to sleeping babes on the floor at my feet, visiting with family, and soaking up every minute with my family.  I DID NOT want to send them back to school last week!  Is it summer break yet?