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. 

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!

Christmas Lights

We love our city. It is always so well-decorated during the holiday season. Every year, we spend an evening touring some of the lights in our pajamas. Our first stop is always this one house that has a great light show set to music. This year, we ran into some friends/Makena's preschool teacher. It made the experience even more fun for the girls. 

Another popular stop is a huge miniature city with three sets of trains running through it. It takes up half of the front lawn. The couple that sets it up is always outside chatting with the visitors and giving out candy canes to the kids. 

We then drove through a few more streets and then headed home for bed time.