A Few of Our Favorite Things

We love the weeks leading up to Christmas. There is a lot of excitement, anticipation and talk of Jesus!

We put up the Christmas tree and lights early this year! Every day the kids made sure the tree was plugged in first thing in the morning. 

We went to a candlelight service at Riverside Church. We are family friends with the lead pastor and that is where Kyle and I go to preschool. We saw lots of familiar faces there!  

We went to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. Kyle and Makena were excited to share their lists with Santa. Santa read everything on their lists to make sure he understood what each one was. 

Kyle has never sat on Santa's lap before. He was going back and forth on whether he wanted to do that this year. Karis told Kyle that if you sit on his lap, you get better presents. Not sure where she got that idea from, but it worked!

I didn't realize Santa was keeping their lists, so I had to go back to get pictures of them! 

We made gingerbread houses with all the candy we collected (and didn't eat) throughout the year. 

We drove around town in our pjs to see Christmas lights. 

 The dog stayed home. 

 

We found two new places to see lights this year. One was a drive thru neighborhood in Plano and the other one was in Flower Mound. The one in Flower Mound was a fun place to run around. There was loud Christmas music, plenty of lights, snow falling, Santa and a garage filled with a miniature city. 

Kyle's Christmas Program

The 3-year old and 4-year old classes worked hard all month learning and practicing Christmas songs. We got to enjoy their songs in the Christmas program. Kyle was excited for the program, but felt a bit shy being up on stage. The program was adorable!

Christmas Morning

A few weeks before Christmas, Makena told me she wanted to give Kyle a gift for Christmas. We have a secret stash of Matchbox cars in our bedroom (Daddy couldn't resist the 10 for $10 deal!). I let Makena choose a car from our stash. She wrapped it and told Kyle it was under the tree. Our little boy is a smart cookie and he could tell right away what was inside the wrapping. So every day, for weeks, he told he wanted it to be Christmas and begged me to open his gift. I was so close to just letting him open the little gift just so he would leave me alone! Needless to say, there was a lot of anticipation for Christmas morning.  

On the top of Makena's wish list this year was Beanie Boo's -- little stuffed animals with big sparkly eyes. Santa brought her two of them!

Karis wanted lots and lots of Shopkins -- and that's what she got!

 

Kyle got cars, trucks and trains (no surprise!).

   

Their favorite gifts were the Vtech Kiddie Zoom watches from Mom and Dad. They saw a commercial for them a long time and have been asking for them. The watch takes pictures and videos, has a couple of games, a timer and a clock. 

  

They spent lots of time with them during the Christmas break!

I wanted a picture of Makena with her new scooter she was going to try for the first time. But she just wanted me to take a picture of her with her new watch!

Thank you to all our family who sent gifts for our kids. Even though they may not have made it into the pictures, the kids loved every one of them!!

Christmas Eve Service

On Christmas Eve, we went to church for a candlelight family service. They had the preschool kids sing a couple songs in the service. We brought Kyle to church early to practice, but during the service he changed his mind and didn't want to go up on stage. When he was practicing, the yawning started again! So funny!

O Holy Night

The first year he was entrusted with fire.

They were so excited that Christmas was finally here. They couldn't wait to go home to go to bed. Probably the only day they're excited for bedtime!

Christmas Festivities

When we returned from our vacation, we were quick to get ready for Christmas. There was less than tree weeks left! The kids were excited to put up the Christmas tree. 

This was the first year that Kyle wanted to help. He found the perfect spot to put ALL the balls!

Every morning afterwards, the first thing Kyle did in the morning was turn on the tree lights. 

After school one day, I took the kids to the mall. They all wanted to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Karis wanted Shopkins, Makena wanted a Beanie Boo and Kyle wanted a choo-choo. We only had to wait a short time, but in that time Kyle decided he didn't want to go near Santa. Maybe next year...

The kids ate candy...I mean, decorated gingerbread houses. 

The finished products

We went to our usual spots to see Christmas lights and even checked out the drive-thru lights in Farmers Branch. 

Christmas vacation was perfect for naps on the couch.

Makena and Kyle made a cake together for Jesus. 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Class Holiday Parties

The girls had their class parties at school the last full day before Christmas break. Makena's class played a couple games, had a fun snack, and worked on a craft. 

They also had a gift exchange. The kids made a list of what they thought their class needs -- more Legos, dress up clothes, smelly markers, etc. Each child brings in a gift and then they draw numbers to open the gifts. The kids loved seeing all the new things for their classroom. 

They even had a visit from Santa (but everyone knew it was Alyssa's Dad!). 

I loved that Karis' classroom is right across the hall so that I could bounce back and forth between the two parties. Karis worked on a craft, played a game and also had a yummy snack. 

A fun way to end the week and celebrate the Christmas holiday!