Bring it on 2012!

As quick as the Christmas season came this year, it is already over and we are about to ring in the New Year! Well, at least those who stay up for that sort of thing :) Us? Nope, we're sitting in front of the Virginia vs. Auburn bowl game while a fire is burning in the fireplace and the kids are asleep upstairs. I wouldn't want to be any other place.
Christmas was full of excitement this year. The kids could barely contain themselves on Christmas morning and Cole's expression was priceless when he finally figured out that the plain cardboard box actually held the DS that he had asked Santa for. He hasn't put it down since, unless you count watching someone else play it, a tactic to gain more Mario cart players or courses to play! Brooks is bouncing around from toy to toy and the Elmo Live thinga-ma-jig held his attention for a minute. Oh well...some things ya get right, others ya don't! Overall, it was a fabulous Christmas with family gathering at our house for a meal. Our food was yummy and plentiful and we had seating for just about everyone, which was awesome to me! The only things that could have made it even better is if Nanny had been with us too :) Round 2 of visitors and Christmas brought Grammie and Shane the day after Christmas. We had a lot of fun opening presents, watching U-tube videos together and playing skeeball at Chuck-E-Cheese! Its so fun to let go and be a kid sometimes. Dave, Amy and the kids came for a visit a little later in the week. We took all the kids to one of our favorite parks and we also went to the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly for the first time. Pretty neat stuff...but a very tired crew!
I'd say we had a pretty good Holiday season and an overall great year. I feel truly blessed to belong to such a wonderful family and to have such great friends in my life. The hardest part of the year was saying "good-bye" to my Big little man as he entered into Kindergarten. No longer was he all mine, I suddenly had to share him with others. Of course I know this is just the way things go, but I miss him just the same.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Cookies, Candy and Gingerbread...oh my!

The holidays are upon us and our annual gingerbread house decorating party was a success. Cole is anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival and is still excited about Jingle's location each morning. That little elf hides in the silliest places. Today he was perched above the table in the chandelier so that he could see all the decorating going on. It was wonderful to have friends and family together to do something fun and I hope it continues as a yearly tradition.
Most of our daily activities lately have been in preparation for the holiday in some way. Shopping, cookie making and decorating are a few of the things we have been doing. I helped at cole's school last week during their gingerbread man making party. They are learning about gingerbread men at school and several variations on the story. They made big gingerbread men from paper and hung them in the halls at school. Each day a few sneak into the classroom! Such a cute idea.
Cole and brooks visited Santa on Friday and both were agreeable to getting their picture taken. Cole told Santa he wanted a DS for Christmas and Santa nodded in agreement. I sure hope he plans on getting him one because Cole was pretty sure that his nodding meant yes!

Countdown

I've been very busy lately of all things, making hair bows! My first ever craft fair was this past weekend and I am thankful for it to be over so that we can enjoy the entire holiday season. We made our countdown paper chain last week and Jingles, the elf, showed up. This weekend we decked the halls, both inside and out, and had lots of fun doing it. Brooks loved decorating the tree and loves the entire season. The big item on his wishlist this year is a Ds. We'll see if Santa brings one ;)