Christmas Morning!

The scene right before the kids came in!  Notice the handmade garland and star.  I loved our tree this year.  Ellen made the star with cardboard, yellow paint and gold glitter.

Lucas, 8 1/2 and Ellen, 6

Santa wrapped our presents this year, which made it last longer.  The note on the tree is from Elfie, our Elf, telling them that he would miss them and to be kind to each other.

Ellen loves this diary, that has a lock and key, from SaSa! 

Lucas is still a Lego man!  This huge lego set was on his list.  Thanks, Santa!

A sleeping bag from Grandpa!  Grandpa Dennis got the family a tent for Christmas, so this is the perfect accessory. 

The stockings!  Santa brought fun bathroom stuff.  Lip gloss, fun toothbrush, fun toothpaste, bubble bath, etc.  Ellen said, "We must have been extra good because Santa only brings stockings if you are extra good.  But I didn't think we were extra good because we fight so much."

E and her stocking.

Lucas got dodgeballs from Santa!  How did he know that Dodge ball is Lucas's favorite sport?!

Thanks, SaSa, for the animal drawing book!

What a surprise!  Glow in the dark stars for their rooms!

Towels aren't too fun, hence the fake smile.

Who is gonna clean all this up?

This is how it looked all day!  We were solo this year, which I was worried about, but ended up being fine.  Lucas did Legos most of the day and Ellen did arts and crafts.  Jeff and I watched football, dozed on the couch, cooked and played.

Christmas Eve

Our tradition has become to make cookies and other goodies on Christmas Eve.  My mom used to do this, and still does when we are together.  We make my mom's chocolate chip cookies (she doubles the sugar and omits the brown sugar), rice krispy treats and sugar cookies.  

Lucas loves to help me cook, but only if it's just him.  When he and Ellen do it together, they fight and he gets mad and leaves to do something else.  I tried this year to have them each help me with different things. 

Daddy, checking out the goods.

Daddy made us powdered donuts (like Sandy makes) for breakfast!

This girl loves to help mommy in the kitchen!

Annie had to check things out.

Tyson on Christmas Eve.

Annie on Christmas Eve.

Elfie's last trick of the year.  He'll be flying home tonight to catch up on his rest.  Bye, Elfie!

hours later...

Ellen's Visit with Santa

We missed several opportunities to meet with Santa due to our trip to Disney, so we were very thankful when a church down the street invited the neighborhood to meet Santa at their church.  Susie (the other Lucas's mom) brought her little guy, Russ.  We were the first ones there, so Ellen got a LOT of time with Santa.  He seriously spent like 15 minutes with her... really talking to her.  I think she was a little shy and caught off guard.  He finally got a little smile out of her towards the end.  They discussed every item on her list... and Lucas's list!  Lucas didn't want to come because he feels uncomfortable talking to Santa and sitting in his lap.  Ellen did question Santa's outfit and we theorized that his big red suit is all clean and he doesn't want to get it dirty before the big day.

Russ Petretich

Russ was shy so Susie stepped in.

Ellen and Russ (almost 3yrs old)