Christmas

We celebrated several times and soaked up lots of time with family starting Christmas Eve. We hosted some family for dinner on Christmas Eve and the kids were spoiled by lots of family getting new babies, Legos, animals, books and all sorts of fun things. The kids were so wound up, but also knew they had to get to bed so Santa would come.

Santa did come after we were all in bed and Ben even heard him! Ben was telling us something later on Christmas Day and all of a sudden remembered - "I heard Santa last night! It was around 10:30 and I heard him banging! Must have been getting all of those toys down our chimney!" He was so please with himself and Mom was able to confirm that she had heard the noise too and it must have been Santa.

The kids were eager to get up Christmas morning and started with their stockings. They raced to the tree next where Santa had left them some larger items. There were quite a few excited yells and lots of "open this - I want to play with this right now!". We did more family gifts and then went to church. The kids normally don't go to "grownup" church so that was a special treat. They were given nativity activity books, so that helped, but also really enjoyed the music and taking it all in.

After some rest time, Grandma Lyn and Grandpa David came over for more presents and dinner. We decided to do breakfast for dinner since we had a more traditional meal the night before. The kids enjoyed getting to eat pancakes and it was nice to have something a little different. The kids opened probably every toy they got and had the living room covered with new fun. It was the year of dolls, dress-up and princesses for Elizabeth and the year of Legos and cars for Ben (for the most part anyway). Ben had assembled four new race cars by the time Grandma and Grandpa left and Elizabeth had on several pieces of dress-up clothing.

We enjoyed a couple days of downtime after Christmas to enjoy our new things, celebrate some time off, and just play. We got to see The Muppets which the kids loved, do a little shopping, but mostly just enjoyed lots of playing.

Later in the week we headed to Lawrence to see Grandma Elaine, Grandpa Larry and all of Dad's family. We enjoyed a belated Christmas morning with more gifts and a delicious Christmas dinner where we discovered that both kids love pork tenderloin. Thanks Uncle Dusty and Grandma Elaine! The kids really hadn't brought anything from home and it was good they didn't. There was plenty more to play with! They put together all sorts of toys and took over most of the downstairs. They played hard and soaked up all this time with our Kansas family.

We were also fortunate enough to be blessed with tickets to the basketball game while we were in town. We were able to take both Ben and Elizabeth and it turned out to be a really great decision. We had awesome seats from a family friend and the kids didn't take their eyes off of the court from the time we walked in.


This was the best picture we were able to get as they didn't want to miss a thing. The game hadn't even started at this point! They were awesome fans, and Ben didn't miss a beat cheering and following each move along the way. His favorite discovery were the antics that took place behind the baskets when the other team was shooting a free throw. Our fans only "tricked them" one time and made them miss, but Ben loved to watch the different things the students did. Elizabeth wanted to see the Jayhawk at all times. When he would walk around or go on break she would panic until she spotted him again. She wore her cheerleader outfit and probably cheered more for the actual Jayhawk than the players, but had a great time. Mom even tried to get the kids to check out the basketball museum when there wasn't much time left in the game and it was obvious KU was going to win. Ben looked confused and said, "but Mom, there is still time left." Mom responded that the game was pretty much over because of the score and he said, "no it isn't, Mom. There is still time left to watch." A true fan! We didn't peel them away until the stands were nearly empty and we were about to get asked to leave.

Our little cheerleader


Ben and Grandpa outside of Allen Field House

We are really so blessed and thankful to have celebrated such a fun Christmas this year. The kids are really starting to understand that we do this for each other to remember and celebrate Jesus and his birthday as well as soaking up the magic of the season as well. Such fun!

Speedy Elf

Ben's classroom had an elf that came to visit this year before Christmas to take reports back to the North Pole on how everyone was behaving at school. Ben loved the elf's antics and looked forward to finding his new resting place each day. When it was time to write letters to Santa at school. Ben asked Santa to bring him an elf. He asked for nothing else, just his own elf. Well, the elf at school must have let Santa know. One day at our house, we woke up to an elf of our own on the mantel and the book Elf on a Shelf. Ben and Elizabeth were both so excited! They took a couple of days to name him as they wanted to get it just right. They settled on Speedy because they thought he would be faster and able to spend more time telling Santa how good they were on his nightly trip back to the North Pole. Speedy had fun watching the kids from various lookouts.

On Christmas Eve, we received an email from Santa with a video message from portablenorthpole.tv. We think that Speedy must have given his final report and Santa was ready to review the kids' files. They both stayed on the nice list and loved getting their personal notes from Santa! That night Speedy went back to live with Santa for a while until he comes back to visit us next December. Elizabeth is still asking about him often. She will say "where is the elf?" and then answer herself "north pole with Santa". I think she is still a little mad at him from the day he sat in one of her toys and she couldn't use it until he moved the next day. So she is just keeping tabs on him to make sure she knows when he is coming back.

Speedy's starting post on the mantle

Messing with E's toys!

A bird's eye view from the kitchen

Doing a little coloring of some of his friends

Christmas Activities

As we headed through our countdown to Christmas here were some of the highlights. . .

Christmas Train - This year we got to join some special friends for one of our favorite Christmas traditions. The kids really enjoyed our time riding the train, playing outside, and enjoying sweet treats. It is always a highlight that we get to visit Santa here as well. The kids each took their list. Ben went over his in more detail with Santa to make sure he saw everything. Elizabeth just surrendered hers quickly and then ran back to Mom and Dad. She stood near Santa for a picture as long as Dad held her hand. She was a little more happy when we all joined in. Ben just soaked in each moment and compared it to the year before and you could tell his little brain was cementing each fact so he could recall that magical moment next year.

School Program - The kids have performed in their school program each year since they were born. It is something we look forward to each year. Elizabeth's class performed Frosty the Snowman this year. She knew most of the words (shockingly as there are lots) and had all the motions down as well. She sang along some on stage and was happy throughout the whole event, so it was a huge success in our eyes. Ben's class recited Twas the Night Before Christmas. Mom could barely breathe before his part and there may have been a few prayers for each child to be successful (whatever that looked like). And there may have been a "Yes!" whispered loudly at the end after each kid clearly recited their lines. Each kid (even super shy ones) held the microphone and clearly got all of their lines out. It was awesome! The kindergarten class also did a nativity scene and sang Joseph's Lullaby. A few days before the show Ben had been very clear about which row to sit in. It was near the front, but it was the third row back on the far left. Mom thought that was odd, but assumed Ben was standing on the left and the other rows might be reserved for staff or something. Turns out during the nativity his post as a wise man was directly next to the far left seat on the third row. Dad could literally touch him during the song and we got a great view. He was very pleased with our chosen seats and had it planned out all along!

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads."

School Parties - Both kids enjoyed their class parties. Ben's was first and he had a pizza party with snowman cookies. The kids had a blast and had also brought some gifts to share with the classroom so they have some new games and things to play with. Elizabeth's was later in the day and they had fun food and also brought gifts to share. Their class got new dress-up items, dolls, crayons, chalk, and all sorts of fresh stuff to start the new year.

Enjoying some treats before opening class gifts

Light Tour - We took the kids to Rhema this year to look at lights as we do almost every year. They love to walk through the light tunnel and see all of the displays. We also drove around to see lights around town. We went to two houses that had lights set to music that you could listen to on your radio. The kids got so spoiled to those that they kept asking at each house what music we would be hearing to go with the lights. Needless to say Ben is determined that he and Dad will beef up our efforts next year.

Baking and gift making - Ben really enjoys making things for gifts (as long as he keeps some for himself of course). This year he and Grandma Lyn and Grandpa David made dough ornaments that Ben painted for various people. The sweetest ornament made was for Mr. Larry our next door neighbor. We also made some sweet breads to share and Ben was so excited to go next door to share this work of art and treat with his buddy next door. The funniest ornament made was for Ben, from Mr. Ben. He thought that made it look like it really wasn't a gift to himself and really got a kick out of that one. Ben also took a class with his friend Abigail at Sage Culinary Studio. They had a great time and the moms got to hang out and watch the whole thing on closed circuit TV. Way cool! They made cookies and soup mix and brought home recipes for those and one more treat they didn't have time to make. We made that third treat along with some others that Mom had found on Pinterest. The results may not have been as beautiful as Pinterest, but Mom and Ben had a great time and will definitely be making this an annual tradition. Sister will probably even get to join the fun next year or get her own special day.

Some of Ben's candycane heart treats

It was an awesome holiday season and we are already planning and looking forward to next year!