Christmas Day

Remember that Christmas that was so magical? Where your kids just jumped with joy and loved every single moment of the entire day. And you had a big beautiful Christmas brunch, and then opened presents for hours. Yes I remember that one too. It just happened...and I didn't take any pictures!!

I decided I was going to sit and enjoy the day and not worry about the camera so much. BUT I was still planning to take a few pictures to mark the occasion. But it didn't happen. I blame it on the stressed out brain of mine. The one that was busy getting everything ready for our big Christmas Eve party at our house, and the brain that was up until 1:30 am putting together the big gifts, and the brain that was just so excited about being part of the moment that it wasn't so worried about documenting that moment.

Here are some of the pictures I did take.

Christmas Eve, 1:00 am. Everything is ready, and it looks like Santa might have already filled those stockings. He sure is sneaky

The littlest on her new rocking horse from Santa

Showing off their new bath robes from Santa

Playing with the new dollhouse from Mom and Dad

The day was magic. We had Sarah, Nick and Ben's dad over night and Christmas day. The girls loved their gifts. We got Hailey a nice vanity table to do her 'makeup' and hair at. Cait got a kitchen set to replace the tiny useless one we bought for Hailey 5 years ago. And Paige got this beautiful dollhouse. Ben's dad built it for Rebecca a million years ago. Then Ashley had it, then some cousins had it, then the barn had it, and the Rebecca's family had it, then the Barn had it again. And finally we took it into our possession. We repainted it, and refinished the furniture. It was quite the project...but so worth it. This is something we KNOW Paige will love because she literally plays Barbie's for hours every single day. Other gifts that were given at Christmas were: books, a Furbie, some Barbies, Monster High Dolls, a baby doll or two, some Littlest Pet Shop, a PS4 Controller, some makeup, Sephora Gift Cards, tools, binoculars, dirt bike gear, Studio lighting, new camera bag, Ski Hill discount cards and so on. It was a fun Christmas. It was fun surprising people with gifts and it was just great to spend the day with people I love. 

The Nativity

So every year my family has a big get together on Christmas Eve. We always eat lots and lots of yummy appetizer type foods, we drink our special Christmas Punch, and then we act out the nativity!! I hosted this year...and our rendition of the Nativity was pretty spectacular.

It started with an Angel telling Mary that she was going to have a baby - Mary's reaction was pretty subdued

Then Joseph took his Wife Mary for Donkey ride to Bethlehem

Jesus was Born

There were shepherds and cute sheep in the fields

One of the sheep looked like a Zebra and just hid from everyone

And the angels came and told the Shepherds about Jesus Birth

And they went and saw baby Jesus laying in the manger

And they all just hung out and there was no crying and everyone cooperated

Christmas Sunday

I get a little bit excited about clothes. I get VERY excited about coordinating outfits! I just like it when our family is all together and we look great! So I've been thinking about our Christmas outfits for some time. A few months ago I saw these cream and gold dressed in Costco in Kalispell for the girls and KNEW they would be perfect for Christmas. And then I found that little Gold dress for Cait and Target. Done! Perfect! And of course I already had a nice cream blouse to wear and then Ben didn't play along. He actually has the PERFECT suit to wear with out outfits....but he refuses to go along with my coordinating outfits obsession. So...close enough. The girls literally looked like angels! I don't think I could love a dress more than I love those dresses. But I guess we'll have to wait for next year.

Oh...and don't worry, I DO know that Christmas isn't all about clothes and looking good. But it's a fun part of Christmas that I enjoy!

And then there were concerts

So this year I was looking forward to our girls Christmas Concerts. Last year Hailey's school did such a neat concert that I was excited to see what they put on this year...and then of course there's the preschool concert. Is there anything cuter than 4 year olds singing?

So Paigey's concert did NOT disappoint! They sang this little song called snowflake that seemed to go on forever and every single second of it was worth it! And then they sand the Raffi song "There was a little baby". Oh My Goodness. That was THE cutest thing I have probably ever seen!! Paige is soooo insistent that the song goes "there was a little baby, Oh my larm" instead of "oh my lord". haha. I tried to explain it but there was no convincing her!!

Paihey and her best preschool buds

Paige and her teacher - Paigey LOVES her teacher!

And then there was Hailey's concert - it was all about having a Green Christmas (like recycling, reusing etc). Hailey's class sang "Recycle the Fruitcake". It was pretty awesome too!

Hailey and her best bud

And her teacher...we really really love her!

Gingerbread

When Christmas rolls around every year I'm always so unprepared. I'm not sure why...but I am. It's just that one day you're living a normal life, then suddenly everyone has their trees us and their lights up and we're still just trying to get piano lessons, and homework, and lunches, and dinner, and baths, and normal everyday life done. This year I thought I'd be a little bit more prepared and get our book advent ready to open on the first (normally it takes a week into December for this tradition to start). So I spent one late night (November 31st to be exact) and wrapped up 24 Christmas gifts for my girls to open each day. And boy did I feel proud of myself. Ben had also strung all the Christmas lights outside the week before. Boy was I especially proud of him. And then we sat back! And about a week into December I realized I'd forgotten to decorate for Christmas!! How do you forget something like that? I'd also forgotten to buy fun things like Chocolate advent Calendars and Ginger bread houses. So one night when we made it through piano lessons, and homework, and lunches, and dinner, and baths, and normal everyday life we finally got around to officially decorating for Christmas. And then another day when we made it successfully through that list we made our gingerbread house.

Now, you may remember my theory on Holidays: It's all about the kids. I let them get involved 100%. I do not have a fancy tree with designer ornaments and coordinating colours. Instead I have a tree that has plastic balls, lots of homemade ornaments from the girls and lots of ornaments from my childhood tree. My tree is all about love and not a lot about looking amazing - especially when you find all 10 of the red plastic balls on one branch...and then not a single ornament on over half of the other branches. But...honestly, this is what looks amazing to me! It's LOVE.

My same theory applies to gingerbread houses...this is the time to let the kids get a little wild, let them express their creative side, and most importantly to draw icing moustache's on their little faces. There is no better tradition than this! I LOVE IT! My home won't be appearing in any magazines that's for sure. And no one will ask me how I am so talented or how I do it all. Because I don't. BUT my girls will remember their silly mom who danced to Boney M Christmas music and smooched their dad under the mistletoe while they carefully decorated their masterpieces! And then we'll all remember licking the icing off our faces after. 

 

There's this thing...

There's this thing that I love about my husband: He's passionate. And when I say that I mean, when he's excited about something he's very excited about it. So if he's into snowboarding, he LOVES it. If it's snowmobiling...it's the best. If it's quadding you'd better believe he'll devote a ton of time to it! If it's his family...he can't get enough of us. And if it's Christmas - he'll make sure it's awesome! He loves giving gifts. He loves shopping for gifts and surprising people with said gifts. He's always got ideas brewing, and believe me, they are great ideas. BUT...my favourite thing about him (at least at Christmas time) is that he LOVES Christmas lights. Our first year in our first home we spent endless hours shopping around Calgary to find the perfect lights. He wanted icicles, he wanted LED, and they were impossible to find. But he did because he was dedicated to those Christmas lights. And now every year since he puts those same old lights up and then takes us for a drive around town to get inspiration for other great light adventures. This year we went around and made notes of our favourite displays and vowed to something bigger and more exciting next year. This kind of stuff is exciting for my husband and that's why I LOVE him so much! There's no 'bah humbug' mood around this house. It's all Christmas cheer all the time!

My parents came for a visit

When my parents got their mission call to Montreal I was soooo excited!! I had big plans to go an visit them and meet everyone they were meeting and see the sites. Years ago my mom and I went on a trip to Montreal and it was so fun that I couldn't wait to go again. But then Cait got sick, and life got busy and we haven't had the chance yet. And to be honest, it's not in the budget this year and they're coming home in June. So...there goes that dream.

BUT...they took care of that problem by coming home for a visit. Becc had a baby on November 15 and they used that as an excuse to come home and see everyone else. They took a turn visiting and spending the night at all our homes and catching up. It was awesome!!

Most of us showed up at the airport to greet them...and Josh and Charlotte even made a sign!!

When they stayed at our home we went sledding up and back down the street...and then quickly returned to the house because it was so darn cold!!

the girls got bedtime stories galore from grandma! And french lessons from grandpa.

It was a great visit...and now we can't wait for them to come home for good!

Montana with the cousins

One of the things that happened after I finished my picture a day project was that I stopped using my camera. I was so happy to be done taking pictures and even more happy to just sit and enjoy those moments instead. I need to find a balance though. Take our trip to Montana last week. Chris and Lauren invited us down for a last minute long weekend to her parents cabin. We had a lot of fun in the Hot Tub, kayaking in the Rain, playing games, flying the toy airplane and so on. It was a great weekend. I however only took two pictures...one of all the kids while shopping and one of Cait folding her arms for prayer time at the dinner table (while reading a magazine of course).

So although I thoroughly enjoyed myself and really had a chance to appreciate each moment, I do wish I'd brought out my camera a few more times!! Oh well, those will be memories I just have to keep in my head!

Halloween

Last year the girls decided to be Vampire Princesses for Halloween. Awesome. Sometime this summer I found these sweet dresses in Winners. Done. But then I realized I'm a theme kind of girl...as long as my kids are young enough to go along with the fun, we will always have a Halloween theme. Peter Pan and Captain Hook, Little Bo Peep and her one little Sheep, the pirate and her Parrot, the Cheerleader and school mascot, or the Safari Guide/Explorer and the Safari Animals. So this year I had to think of some sidekick costume to go with these Vampire princesses. My first thought was to make Cait a bulb of garlic. How awesome would that be??? But then one day I found a little Bat Hoodie in Target and it sealed the deal. Of course we would be a family of Vampires with our trusty bat to play along. So FUN!!

Now tell me...is this not the cutest bat ever?

I would NOT want to see these three in an dark alley - ever

Creepy Hailey

Scary Paige

This little bat is how they work their magic. She looks so cute and approachable; and then BAM there are two creepy Vampires ready to suck your blood!

And just an adorable series of pictures of this bat eating...something off the grass. I'm hoping it's mud. But doesn't she look like she belongs?