Christmas Day!

Once we had a chance to play with our Santa gifts for a bit, it was off to Stow to celebrate. 

Kids were SO excited to see Chase and Madison and hear all that Santa left them.

 Handsome Harry.  When I put out nice clothes he always asks, "Why do I have to look handsome today?"

 The great-grands with Nana

 The people.

 Pint size gangsta' rapper Santa?

 Time for rip and tear.

 Many more great gifts.

 In his glory.

He Came!!!

FINALLY after what seemed like an eternity of decorating, singing christmas songs, making crafts at school, baking, holiday parties, and hanging out with Maxwell, SANTA finally came.  As usual he did not disappoint. The kids got a lot of great stuff.

Opening stockings -

 

The piles -

 

 Let the games begin -

 Someone is already tired from all that unwrapping -

 A moment of calm in the storm -

 

 

 

Christmas Eve

I was lucky enough to be off Christmas Eve this year.  We were also lucky enough to have Anne and Darrick come to celebrate Christmas Eve with us.  The kids were very excited, as you can imagine!

 

Our friends brought over this gingerbread lighthouse for the kids to decorate.  The husband does these every year from scratch.  It is kind of amazing.  Kids loved decorating it!

 

 

 The ladies.

 

 

 Men.

 

Opening presents from Anne and Darrick and their Christmas Eve PJs from Mimi!

 

Can't forget to sprinkle our reindeer food.

 And put out the cookies, milk and carrots.

 One last wish list to Santa.

Someone is FOUR!

Paige was SO excited to wake up today and FINALLY be FOUR YEARS OLD!!  She was literally dancing and hopping around the house.  She announced that since it was her birthday she would wear a bathing suit if she wanted to.  OK?!?  Luke was very sweet.  He snuck downstairs early and  "made" breakfast for the two of them. Too cute. 

 

 

 After breakfast we quickly switched into party planning mode.  Luke and I decorated the house while daddy picked up balloons and cupcakes. Paige wanted to be surprised so she waited in her room until we were done - someone loves her birthday just a little bit.

 

She had a kid party with the kids from the neighborhood and special appearance by Will and Olivia who were luckily coming through on the way to their grandparents on the cape.

 

Waiting for the pinata.

 

 I wasn't brave enough to buy the kind you whack.  Pull tabs seemed much calmer to me.

 Happy birthday!

 Mimi came a bit later to celebrate with us too!  Paige opened her gifts.

Maxwell our Elf

We are lucky enough to have an elf visit us every year around the holidays.  Maxwell is his name.  I think this is his third year coming to us.  Year one he was pretty quiet and didn't cause a lot of fan fair.  Last year he did get crazy once or twice (fishing in our sink, etc..) but this year he is really coming out of his shell, either that or maybe he gets bored sitting around on the shelf all day long.  Here are some shots of Maxwell and his shenanigans. 

 

Sneaking candy and gum -

 Hiding in the candle -

 Roasting marshmallows -

 Bubble bath?? -

 Riding Luke's toys -

 Oh no, Maxwell got sick around the same time Luke did -

 

Got into the kids Christmas stickers -

 

 Thanks for "hangin" with us again this year Maxwell.  We'll miss you but look forward to seeing you next year.

New Pet?

This was the conversation with Luke today:


“Mommy, I think we should have a raccoon as a pet. If we had a raccoon as a pet we wouldn’t have to worry about taking the trash out because it would eat all the trash. “

Pause

“But raccoons are nocturnal so we should probably put him in Marley’s crate at night so that he doesn’t mess up the house. You would be mad about that, right? I bet if we left him out during the night he would get into some of the food in the kitchen. The difference between our pet raccoon and Marley is that Marley sleeps at night like us because he is not nocturnal so we don’t have to worry about him walking around at night. Our pet raccoon would get into things during the night. Marley only gets up at night to throw-up sometimes. “

Another pause

“But wouldn’t that be cool to have a raccoon as a pet? Can we get one?”

Mommy: “Ask your father”

Videos -Christmas Dancers

Videos - Christmas Dancers Cont...