December Happenenings

As usual, we put our Christmas tree up in November, before Thanksgiving.  People give us a hard time about it, but I really don't care :)  The Christmas season is just so short and with the amount of work that goes to decorating, I want to enjoy it for more than 3 weeks.

The Family Tree

The Star Wars Tree

We went to see Santa in the mall, the first weekend he was there.  It's the best way to avoid the line.  Luke wasn't too thrilled to see him.

We celebrated the 1st advent and decorated cookies together.

On the night of the 5th we put our shoes out and St. Nickolaus came and filled them with candy.

December started the first of many snow days.  Many, many snow days.

Hayden decided to dress as our very own Elf on the Shelf, Kris, one Sunday afternoon.  That's what lazy Sundays are for.  haha.

Pretty good impression if you ask me!

Only 3 days till Christmas!! This is the Sunday before Christmas.  I am the choir director, so the big choir performance was that day, even if it is a very small choir of about 15- including me.  And the kids were all dressed up in their Christmas church clothes.

Ah, love this cute boy!

On Christmas "Adam" the day before Christmas Eve we went to New York City.  I love being close enough to hop in for the day.  It had been a very cold week, it warmed up on Sunday, then Monday it was not freezing, but the rain came.  It was still worth going.  It probably kept some of the crowds away.  This was inside a fancy hotel as we stopped for a potty break.

Something about New York, no matter what the season is just so fascinating to me.

The first stop with the kids was FAO Schwartz.  They definitely wanted to see the toy store to see if there was any last minute items they wanted to add to their Christmas lists.  Jerry and I were praying they weren't going to change their mind on their gifts.  We were lucky!

Zoltar is giving them their fortunes...

Candy, candy, candy.  We are so funny aren't we!

Someone was getting tired from the walking.

Luke spent a good portion of time trying on all the hats.

While in FAO the kids got to go play on the piano for the first time.  It was super fun to see them.

The Tree at Rockefeller Center.  It is originally from Shelton, our neighboring town, so that was a cool connection.  It always amazes me just how huge the tree is.  It was beautiful.

We stayed till around 7 or 8 and headed home once the rain started picking up more. It was wet, and a little chilly, but such an awesome day.  Great memory for us!

We went home and got ready for Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve morning we saw that Kris, our elf finally got up the guts to go on a date with Barbie for his last day with our family.....