Christmas is a time of baking, eating sweets and giving good cheer to those you love and live with. For simplicity's sake, we made chocolate-dipped pretzels to give to friends and neighbors, and I enlisted the kids to help me. These pretzels also happen to be one of my favorite holiday treats. Yum!
Time off from school and work also means time for more elaborate and delicious breakfasts. Hadley is always a willing volunteer to help in the kitchen!
HEB had a good sale going on their gingerbread house kits the week before Christmas, so we squeezed that in one afternoon. I did most of the icing work, but the kids handled the design aesthetic and candy placement.
Still need more to get in the Christmas mood? How about children singing Christmas carols? Their school had a sing-a-long that they were practicing for, and Hadley realized that she did not know most of the traditional carols for some reason. We tried to help her by singing them at home, but I usually ended up just laughing when she made up words and tunes. Garth and Kat, anyone? So I decided to document instead. Enjoy!
Finally Christmas Eve was upon us. Uncle Michael brought Granna and Grandad to stay with us for the holiday. There were cards to be played, light sabers to be wielded, and scavenger hunts to be done. Hadley came up with the scavenger hunt all on her own!
Owen read this magic trick in a book and decided to try it out. It's making a penny disappear and reappear; the assistant was new.
One last picture with empty stockings. Hadley also decided, at the last minute, that the cats needed stockings, so she made paper pockets for them. I'm sure Santa appreciated the last minute add-ons...
Despite our neighborhood's affinity for Christmas Eve fireworks, the kids went to sleep and woke up to filled stockings and bean bag chairs from Santa!
Lots of gifts to be warm and cozy this year. Though I have to say that the image of Owen with sleepy hair and a robe gave me some flash-forwards to imagine him as a twenty-something still living in our house. Ha! Hopefully not a vision of the future.
It was so nice to have grandparents here with us to celebrate!
Later that evening, we celebrated with the other side of the family at D&J's and called Oma and Papa and Loni and Lampe. Merry Christmas to all!
Lastly, we had been easing the kids slowly through the original Star Wars movie trilogy. Owen finally enjoys movies! And they loved the Star Wars movies! So, we caught them up to the latest trilogy (movies with Rey) and decided to see the finale as a family in the theater. Wow! So cool to share one of these epic movies as a first for your kids in the real theater. They loved it! Now the question is, are the first three (JarJar Binks?) worth rewatching with them to complete the saga?
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