Christmas Morning

P3 got to check out the Christmas scene first:

Santa did end up coming, and it looked like he got their letters. P1 asked for a Bumble plush, and Ninja Turtle toys. P2 asked for a doll, and ninja turtle toys.

 Santa was tricky, and put some new TMNT toys by the old ones, so the kids didn't notice them at first. 

The kids were good to wait in their beds until we got them. PE gave me grief for waking them up, but really, I heard them talking and knew they were just waiting for me to get them.

They finally found their new ninja turtle toys:

P2 got a Princess Elena dress and accessories. P3 got a little hedgehog ball from Santa.

 

 

Opening the presents P1 and P2 gave each other. P2 was so excited to get Clarise, and it was cute to see P1 so excited to give it to her. P2 gave P1 a Fishface action figure (from TMNT).

Hugs!

P3 got this cute fox and blanket from Grandma and Grandpa:

We each got a Lego house to build. P1 got a cabin, P2 got Snow White's cottage, PE got a beach house, and I got a Treehouse.

P1 drew a picture of Christmas morning to give to his aunt. He did a pretty good job!

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to pull out our blu-track and race our hot wheels. The kids have a lot of fun with this.

Making cookies for Santa:

Finally got the older two kids to bed. We had a rough day and they almost lost Christmas. Dad told them that if they didn't stop being naughty, then he would write a letter to Santa and tell him not to bring them toys. Well, they kept being naughty, so he wrote the letter and showed them that it was ready to go in an envelope if they didn't start behaving. Well, they managed to get in trouble again and Dad made them fold up the letters and put them in an envelope addressed to Santa. They cried and cried. Dad told them they better be really good, or he was going to put it in the mailbox. Well, they blew it again, and he put it in the mailbox. (I was pretty much in tears at this point too.) Dad told them that they had one last chance. If they were super good for the rest of the day, then he would go get the letter out of the mailbox. They finally managed to be fairly good the rest of the night, so after they went to bed, Dad went and took the letter out of the mailbox. Whew!

Honestly, the whole threatening Santa won't bring anything doesn't seem to yield results. I saw a good idea about having a kindness jar during December, and the kids get to fill it up by doing good deeds. So I think that is a better idea to try next year.

December Pictures Part 3

Sunday photos: P3's eyes say "Help me!" P1 likes doing a thumbs up in photos.

 

Someone always has to be crying when they are sitting with "Santa".

Celebrating Dad's birthday:

Found some red-nosed reindeer at P1's preschool:

 Once again, P3's eyes scream "Save me!!!" He is very well loved.

December Pictures Part 2

P2 playing with P3:

P3 really likes the Xbox controller, he is quite fascinated by it.

P2 reading to  P3:

P3 spit up and rubbed his face all over in it before Dad noticed:

Reading stories:

  Trying to catch a smile on camera:

We went to the see the Harry Potter shopping experience at The Shops at South Town. P1 enjoyed playing Quidditch even though the ball was too heavy for him to throw very far. The kids also like the Ollivander Wand experience, where they pick out a wand and do some magic. They made it snow, and P1 was very impressed. Although he did notice that it wasn't real snow.

The kids wrote letters to Santa. P2 asked for a doll toy and a ninja turtle toy. P1 wrote his letter with a little help from me. 

"Dear Santa! I've been a good boy. How have you been? Santa I want I? BUMBLE?SFT? Ad sim? NINJ?A TURTLES? SHELLRAISER."

I don't know why he put all the question marks in his letter. Translation: he wants a Bumble the Abominable snowman soft toy (plush), some ninja turtles toys, and the Shellrasier (the ninja turtles vehicle).

  

Santa Claus made a visit to our ward Christmas breakfast. It was a fun morning:

 

Making our yummy gingerbread cookies! One of my favorite traditions, and now my children love it too! We made a batch for neighbors, but then ended up eating them all and so we had to make another batch.

 P2 saw Clarise the reindeer at the store, and loved her so much! She didn't want to put her back. P1 was paying attention, and about a week later he told me that he knew what he wanted to get P2 for Christmas. He said that he wanted to get the girl reindeer and that P2 would be so excited to get it. My heart melted, and I almost ran him to the store right then and there. It's the first time P1 has really thought about giving someone else a gift that they would love. Usually he wants to give people things that he likes (a fairly normal trait in little kids).

I'm a succor for buying Christmas dresses for my daughter. She picked out this one. And then I had to find her a cute Christmas bow, and then we needed to get shoes to match. I tried to get her some black boots, but she insisted on the red sparkly shoes.

Nap time:

P1 and P2 decided to dress up and act out the Nativity all on their own. P1 dressed up his penguin and pretended it was baby Jesus. P2 was Mary with Tinkerbell wings.