Christmas Morning ~ December 2012

The usual, take a picture of the tree before the kids come downstairs.  I spent the night so I could be there when the kids got up.

Here they come!

This is the great deal we got at Kohl’s for Miss Abigail.

The boys got a fire truck and a helicopter, I don’t know who got what, but it all goes into the community playroom.

Amber wanted a picture of all the kids in front of the tree like last year.  Abby sat down so I took this picture while we were waiting for the boys to  leave their toys and sit down.

They didn’t stay there very long.

Davis flying the helicopter.

Dustin trying a helmet on Davis.

This is a camping set that Auntie Chris and Uncle Jonathan sent them. 

Dustin stayed busy all morning opening all the boxes of toys.  He was taking them out of the boxes as the kids were unwrapping the next present.

I think the boys got four large construction toys.  The Cates got the boys bicycles in those large red boxes.

This is the camping set.  They were roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, frying eggs, listening to crickets and a wolf howl (when they pushed the light on the lantern) all morning. 

This was very cool Chris.

After the stockings were opened we had a great breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, and homemade biscuits with Chris’ peach jam and the raspberry, cranberry jam Michelle sent me.  

Putting Out Reindeer Food

Abby’s teacher gave all the kids reindeer food on the last day of preschool.  Soooo we not only had to put out cookies and milk for Santa, BUT we had to put out reindeer food as well, and not only that, BUT Mickey Mouse said that reindeers eat carrots Soooo we had to put out carrots too.

Abby and Davis went out, Jackson wasn’t interested. 

 

 

Come little reindeers eat your food like good little reindeers!!!

Bass Pro Shop Fun & Santa

For 3 years we have gone down to the Bass Pro Shop’s Santa Village in Concord Mills Mall.  You can have your picture taken with Santa for free, then they have fun things for the kids (and adults) to do.

Getting ready for their picture.

You can try your hand at shooting a bow and arrow.

Amber was helping Abby because it was hard to pull.

They had light sensor guns for hitting the targets.  When you hit a target it would light up.

Davis has one of these truck and horse trailer sets, but he still wanted to play with this one.

I guess being in the box makes it look pretty exciting.  He loved the plane to the right as well.

We always have to make a trip down the Mall to the carousel.  Abby rode all by herself with no help because she wanted the white horse and the boys wanted the zebras.

 

 

There was a dinosaur near the carousel and when anyone walked by it it would start to roar.  Davis was afraid of it and so he hid behind Amber.  Dustin kept walking by it and Davis was not happy.

The kids got to pick which one of the rides they wanted to ride on.

Abby went for the helicopter,

Davis went for the school bus,

 

and dare-devil Jackson went for the race car.

 

After the mall we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner until it was dark enough to go over to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Christmas light show they have each year.

We all love the peanuts and the rolls with the sweet butter.

I said, “Abby look” and this is the face I got.

Little Peoples Help with Cookies

I used to wonder what Amber was going to do when the boys got old enough to help out with the baking.  There just wasn’t enough room in her kitchen to put two more kids up to the counter.  This island counter with a sink for easy clean-up is perfect

They helped roll the cookie balls in the sprinkles.  Then they each got some dough and a peanut butter cup for helping.

They use the chairs from the table and chair set Chris and Jonathan bought them.  It gets them up at just the right level.

Christmas Events ~ December 2012

A few highlights of some of the events I attended this month.

I made these bags of dark chocolate chip/almond cookies for ladies in my Precept bible study.  Each year our leader has a Christmas Breakfast in her home and it’s always wonderful.  There’s usually about 50 of us there.

Our TLC group’s Christmas dinner was in the home of one of our Elders who lives on High Rock Lake.  They have a great view of the lake.  Above is my plate.

There were 26 people so this is only one area that was set up.

Each year the Church has a Women’s Christmas Dinner.  The women sign-up to decorate a table with their own place settings and fancies.  I thought I would give you a sample of some of the tables, they were all so beautiful.  I sat at the table above and each one of us received a beautiful ruby red stone with “Love” written on it.

The picture above and below was the Barbie table.  Each guest received a princess crown to wear and keep, so they were princesses for the evening.  You can see the crowns on the plates.



Some of the angels on this table turned around on pedestals.
 
I loved the red cardinals on these plates.  We have red cardinal here in the winter and I love to watch them.

This had all fresh greens and the red fruit set it off beautifully.

The theme of this table was “Let it Snow!”

Another beautiful table with Cardinals.

Candy cane theme.





It was a very nice evening with good company!