Christmas

Christmas morning was so much fun this year! The kids were finally old enough to be excited about Santa leaving presents under the tree and they were old enough to open their gifts on their own and appreciate most of them.









For the second year in a row we could have just given the kids their Christmas stockings and called it a day. They wanted to immediately play with each new toy they saw and had to be coaxed into opening another gift. We ended up pacing ourselves and opening a few presents here and there for the next couple of days, inlcuding a Skype session with Grandpa and Nana.

Wyatt's 2 most favorite toys happened to be gifts we gave Sam- a Chick Hicks hauler from the movie CARS, and a wooden car carrier truck- but luckily for us Sam had so many other toys to play with that he either didn't notice or didn't care that Wyatt played with them all day.

Christmas evening we had Ross' family over for an amazing Prime Rib dinner that Ross cooked up in the slow cooker and then another round of presents.










It wasn't until a day or two after Christmas that we even got around to setting up the train set we bought for the boys to go around the tree. Do I have to even say what a big hit that was? They loved it. I mean really, really loved it. The set came with a remote control that let Wyatt move the train forward or backward, and say "All Aboard" and make chuga-chuga-choo-choo noises.

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve a day earlier than most since Ross worked on Christmas so Wyatt and I made Santa Claus some homemade cookies, while Ross and Sammy did some last minute shopping.

When I asked Wyatt if he'd like to make Santa cookies he said "Yes but not chocolate chip." I asked why not chocolate chip and he said "Because the chocolate chips will get his gloves all messey and I don't want to do that." Hmm, I guess I hadn't thought of that. We talked about a possible solution and decided to leave a fork with the cookies so Santa could keep those gloves looking nice and clean.

We made Cowboy Cookies- a recipe of my grandmother's that always reminds me of the holidays.





While the cookies baked we let the boys each open one Christmas present and they received new stuffed animals to sleep with. Wyatt received a monkey and Sammy received an elephant and both boys were thrilled.










After the cookies were baked we left the cookies, and fork, and a glass a milk out along with this note that Wyatt had me write for him:

Dear Santa,

Merry Christmas! The fork is to eat your cookies so your gloves don't get messy. Or you can take your gloves off and eat the cookies with your hands. The milk is here because you will get thirsty.

Love, Wyatt

Gingerbread House

Wyatt and I made our first gingerbread house this afternoon. I was smart and opted for the premade house so we just had to put the frosting and candies on. Wyatt loved this and liked being able to combine his artistic side with his sweet tooth side.



Look at that look of pride.

He couldn't wait for Ross to come home to show him what he had made.


Wyatt even showed Ross how to properly lick one's gingerbread house.

O' Christmas Tree

We took the boys to the Carnation Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree. Apparently we were very late in the season to be doing our own chopping as the farm had just a small area roped off that we could cut from within and it only had about 10 trees left. Luckily for us we were there more for the tree cutting experience than find a perfect tree and having so few choices made choosing quick and easy.

Here are the boys posing for a picture in front of the tree we chose.

And one of the boys and I.

Wyatt "helped" Ross with the saw and helped carry the tree to the car and we were on our way.



This is by far one of my favorite family traditions and I hope we continue to always do this.

Meeting Santa

Nana, Grandpa and Santa

Nana and Granddad spent a week with us in early December and we had a wonderful visit. Nana spent much of her time here reading to the kids...

While Grandpa made cookies with Wyatt...


We also rode the Santa Train, which took us on a short ride between the North Bend and Snoqualmie Depots with a layover in Snoqualmie where the kids got to meet Santa Claus and snack on cookies and hot chocolate.



This was Wyatt's first time meeting Santa Claus and he did great. He hopped right up on Santa's lap and cutely asked for a James train for Christmas. Wyatt would have stayed longer and talked to his "friend" Santa but there were many more children waiting in line so we had to get going. Ross tried to add little Sammy to the mix and put him on Santa's lap next to big brother but he wouldn't let go of his death grip around Ross' neck so we didn't force him. Maybe next year...



After meeting Santa Claus we enjoyed our snack and waited back in line to board the train back home.