Christmas Eve Eve

Another Christmas Eve Eve has been successfully celebrated. This year's movie was Prancer. I still remember seeing it in the theater back when I was a little girl. Kinda different seeing it on this side of the parent/child relationship. The kids were crazy excited all day & once the air mattress was inflated this evening they were pretty much uncontainable in the excitement department. What makes me equally as happy is how excited Joel now gets about our little family tradition. I must also mention that Joel made some really, really good hot chocolate. His secret: a little butter & sugar mixed in. Now off to sleep & cinnamon rolls in the morning! Then Christmas Eve at Nana's, Christmas morning here, and finally Christmas day at Grandma & Grandpa's. Then what comes next....hmmmmm...my birthday! It's a 4 day celebration-a-thon.

Singing in Church

The kids sang in church this past Sunday. They sang Joy to the World & O Come Let Us Adore Him. Emily was so excited & kept asking me if it was time for her to go up & sing that morning. Here is a super cute picture of her in action. (Thanks Cheryl for sharing the picture!)

Gingerbread Cookie Houses

I won a cute house shaped cookie cutter at a Bunco night I went to last summer. I saved it to use to make gingerbread cookie houses with. I like the idea of making actual gingerbread houses, but they tend to be more fun in my mind than in reality, so I thought making a cookie version would involve less frustration & more fun. Add frosting & a variety of sprinkles to choose from and you've got some pretty yummy looking cookies! We had a good time just sitting around the kitchen table and having some creative, messy fun.

Here's a photo of us displaying the favorite cookie we each made.

And this is our token silly face photo. I think it's kinda funny that everyone but me stuck out their tongues.