Live Every Moment.....: Christmas 2014

December seems so long ago. Last year we started incorporating our own family traditions in the mix with traditions we do with extended family. One of the things we started was "25 days of books." everyday from December 1-25, you unwrap a Christmas book and read it as a family. Most of the books I used were ones we have collected through the years...but just sat in a pile on the bookshelf during the holidays. This gave us time to sit together as a family and read. Some nights were better than others...but we stuck with it. And it was a good way to get rid of the bits and pieces of paper I have been trying to get rid of. Books ranged from baby board books, to fun and silly books, to book about the spirit of Christmas and books about the birth of Christ. Lexie loved the Little People Christmas Book, Parker loved any book that lasted 2 minutes or less (can you tell he loves to read) Ben's are the Dr. Suess books and I love Silver Packages....I cry everytime I read it.

Parker loved reading to Lexie and did enjoy when it was him turn to open and read the stories.....I think we will definately do this again next year....with some new additions.

These pictures are in no particular order....I didn't feel like going through each of them and putting them in order.....

New Christmas outfits....for the girls:)

I love buying dresses for Lexie....she has so many...I have had to force myself not to buy anymore until she outgrows the ones she has. I found this dress last year at Von Maur....I store I only wish I could afford to shop at. I always go in during the off seasons and buy things for the following year. I found Lexie's red dress there last year and got it for more than half off. And Parker didn't care if he got a new outfit....so we let him wear this one last year. And we hurry and took a family picture...which does not happen very often. It turned out pretty well considering we had tired and hungry kids and a 5 second timer on the camera before Ben had to press and get in the picture and smile.

Christmas Eve nigh is always my favorite time. The kids are in bed. Its quiet. Ben and I get a chance to talk and enjoy some peace and quiet. It is also the time when we prepare for Santas arrival.

This year Santa left something really cool for the kids.....a book all about the QCA. Parker thought it was neat and read it to the family.

Lexie had a lot of practice opening up presents throughout the month.....we celebrated Christmas many different times with many different sides of the family. At first she did not know what to think but by Christmas morning....she was a pro. I think Santa had a lot of fun picking out her favorite things....too much fun.

We usually celebrate Christmas Eve with my parents, sister, cousins, aunts and uncles....so its a long day with usually no naps and late nights. Parker slept in until 6:30am. I told him we couldn't call Grandma until 7am....plus Lexie was still asleep. He did good and kept himself busy....at 7:15 Grandma, Grandpa and aunt Rocky arrived and watched the kids open their gifts. We did have to wake Lexie up.....which...maybe I shouldn't have done:)

Pokemon Cards

How to Train your Dragon 2

Lexie needing a little help from Grandpa.....

Whats in it? Daniel Tiger!!!!

A few of the kids favorites:
P: UnderArmor shirts, HTTYD 2 movie, Pokemon cards
L: Daniel Tiger stuffed animal and DVD, Princess Castle and Snow White cottage

Like I said....these are out of order:) Another tradition we have done since Parker was born was to read the Gingerbread Man story, then bake and decorate the Gingerbread Man. So, when I was in Kindergarten I remember doing this as a class. Only when we went to the kitchen to pick up out man...he ran away....so we went around the school looking for him. So after we baked him, we had Parker read the story to us....then we went into the kitchen and he was gone!!!! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids looking for him.

I love helping in Parker's classroom....and even though he pretends not to care if I am there I can see that he does. Me, along with 3 other moms are in charge of class holiday parties. This year we decided to do a snack bar....snacks included: M&M's, fruit loops, goldfish, pretzels, donuts, popcorn and juice. The kids enjoyed the movie Home Alone as they ate their snacks.

We also love watching the Polar Express in 3D and have made this another tradition of ours. This year I made up a little Hot Coca bar and snacks for the movie.

Spending Christmas with Ben's family is something we all look forward to do, especially during the holidays. In the next couple of photos we are celebrating with P. extended family. Santa even came and brought the kids gifts. Although Lexie would not go anywhere near him...Parker still has that spark of magic left in him and wanted a picture with him....we also celebrate with Grandma P's side of the family.

Fun with dress up!!!! There are 9 Grandchildren between us and Ben's siblings and for the most part they all get along really well. We were able to go and spend the day with just Ben's family....opening gifts, eating and laughing....it is always a good time.

And of course they all get new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa!!!!

Just the girls!!!

And the two boys

Another tradition we started was 'Elf on the Shelf' which I find to be very creepy looking.....thankfully a less creepy elf found his way to our house. Some of the fun things he did

And Christmas Eve feast with our extending family at my parents house.....and gifts from aunts, uncles and cousins.

Not really enjoying the help from Lucas....she kept looking at me like....come get this kid off of my present:)

I failed to get a picture...but the kids always buy something for each other and they are allowed to open their gifts on Christmas Eve. Lexie got Parker, Mr. Peabody and Sherman and Parker bought Lexie Daniel Tiger and Trolly toys.

The best part of Christmas is being with family. One night after the kids went to bed, Ben and I sat and talked about how blessed we are to have family close by....espceially during the holidays. I love it because I also get to see my sister, who I only get to see a couple times a year. She is my best friend....I love her so much!!! I also got the opportunity to meet her fiance....which I couldn't find a pic of:) and I know I took them.