Christmas in Texas

We had a wonderful Christmas with my family. We celebrated the weekend before Christmas because we were leaving to go to AR. We met to take family pictures with the whole family. Everyone did great and my parents got some great pics of all their family. Then we went to eat and back to my parents house for presents. The first few pictures show Kylee and Katie doing the open presents now dance. They took turns with Ethan and Ella opening presents and loved helping Ella with her gifts. Every gift Ethan opened was great because he got so excited. Katie got her first American Girl doll and the look on her face was priceless. To say she was excited was an understatement. Kylee got an American Girl doll too and they both got accessories for their dolls. Kylee also enjoyed giving my parents their gifts that she picked out herself at the school store. We had a fun time eating our favorite Christmas candies my mom makes and we felt full with our tummies and love. Then my family headed to Frisco to go to a Christmas Celebration were Santa parachutes in. We rode horses and saw hot air balloons. It was a fun way to kick off the week of Christmas!

First Presents Opened

We have the most fun in December. We have several family traditions some are new and some we just started. Our newest this year is Rudy, the Elf on the Shelf. The girls loved coming in every morning asking where Rudy was and searching the house for him. We also did the Advent Tree and Kylee really got it this year and could tell lots of stories about the Bible leading up to Jesus birth. We continued with the Chocolate countdown from my mom each morning. We also made a Gingerbread house that is never beautiful but oh so fun for the girls.
Another thing is we open up one special gift from Charley and I to the girls and this year it was a Wii for Kylee and a Dollhouse for Katie. To say they were both thrilled is an understatement. They also get each other a gift and something for me and Charley. I especially loved my snuggie!! We then went and hooked up the Wii and played games for a while. There will be lots of family fun with this in the future!

Kylee's Christmas Party

I feel like we partied and celebrated tons before Christmas. This is Kylee's class Christmas party. She had fun. They had pizza and fruit. They played games and did crafts. My favorite is that instead of a book or toy exchange they collected toys for the Community Storehouse. I love this tradition and the kids really enjoy doing it. Kylee is very into picking out the toy for it. The teacher gift was a wreath with little Christmas ornaments the kids signed their names on and a class picture in the middle. Mrs. Word really liked it a lot!