Christmas is My Favorite!

It really is my favorite. I love the Christmas Season. One of the perks of my job as a teacher is that I am able to have two weeks off to enjoy it, and I try to soak up every minute of it with my kids. Jake and I have created family traditions, and I love that. While we do some things differently, we always try to keep several things the same each year, and it gives us something to look forward to as a family. 

We made some play snow out of conditioner and baking soda.....

Avery and Bryce painted some angel ornaments...

I think out of everything we did this year, Avery and Bryce both seemed to enjoy our movie days the best! 

We had a little Frozen party with blue "Frozen" brownies and icy blue drinks....

Avery wanted to toast; however, in this moment, Mommy's glass broke during the clinking- HA!

I was so disappointed because Bryce began running fever when the Christmas Train came to town. Avery was very excited about going, so I picked her up early from school, and we headed downtown. Then, we got there (with no line-score!) , and she had a panic attack! Oh well, she wanted nothing to do with it, so we gave up our place in line. She decided she wanted to play across the street, so we went over to Catfish Row, and she was herself again (conveniently). I ended up getting some good pics of her though. 

Avery has never been to the over look before, so I drove up there for her to see the bridges and river. 

We had a Polar Express day with some very deliciously rich hot chocolate! 

Avery and Bryce made graham cracker trains too. Burney the Elf also brought them books- Polar Express and Corduroy's Wish for Christmas. 

Burney mostly flew around the room this year, but he did a few things to make us laugh! Woody apparently didn't like having Burney on his turf!

The best tradition ever is going to Canton Lights! I actually took my first graders on a day trip this year, and we went back at night with our kids. Unfortunately, Avery didn't allow us to have too much fun! She got upset over some characters that were walking around, and that was about the end of it! They had a good time on the carousel and car ride, and loved dancing in front of the huge Christmas tree. We took GiGi with us this year because she'd never been before. 

A friend of ours told me about a house in Madison that was really neat. It was awesome! Bryce LOVED all of the lights! Avery saw Santa and Frosty waving in front of it all, so she was ready to leave from the get-go! It amazes me that people do things like this for others to enjoy. 

Crossway had something called Jingle Jam this year. It was great! Mr. Moose and Mr. Blaine were the best of the entertainment! The pics below were taken right before we left for the church. 

I used to say that Avery is not a performer. Well, in the sense of telling others what she knows (ABCS, etc.), she isn't. As for dancing and singing, that is definitely not the case. She was just bursting with joy and excitement during her Christmas program at Agape! She was especially glad to see her GiGi there! I love watching her do stuff like that. She makes me so proud! 

After her program, Daddy had to get to work, so Avery came to spend some time with my class. My assistant, Mrs. Williams, and her daughter, Ashia, are so sweet, and they love Avery and Bryce.They even helped me keep Avery unaware of Santa Clause who was roaming the building! Unfortunately, he stopped by my room, and she freaked out, but it was short lived! Mrs. Williams gave Avery a little learning computer and gave Bryce a toy truck for Christmas. She is extremely thoughtful and kind. 

This is part of the joy of Christmas Break...breakfast in our jammies after sleeping in. 

Oh Bryce-Man. He has changed so much! Bryce has turned into even more of a hot mess lately! He's so stinking cute, I could just eat him up. His temper has definitely come out lately, and the Terrible Two's have come in a bit early! I love listening to him talk and sing. He has an awesome sense of humor too. It seems both of my kids like to play with the oddest of things. Avery used to love DVD cases, and now B loves straws! Avery and I got him a huge pack as a "funny" for Christmas! 

We drove around Vicksburg to look at Christmas lights, and Burney wanted to come along. Avery and Bryce wore their PJs and had popcorn and hot chocolate. We determined that Avery's early gift to us was to throw a fit every time we tried to do anything fun this Christmas! She whined pretty much the whole time about looking at lights and wanted to go home. We continued on any way because Bryce loved it!  My poor little controlling princess! 

Funny story, I ordered some really nice pants with suspenders for Bryce to wear for Christmas. When they came in, I realized they were skinny pants! If you look at Bryce, you know skinny pants and him don't mix! I ended up putting them on him for the Christmas service at church any way, and he was hilariously cute! He kept galloping and dancing around and laughing! It was a nice laugh! It really doesn't matter much because he'd pretty much be a cute-patootie in anything, right? He doesn't care a thing about taking a picture any more. I can hardly get him to stand in for one at all. It's funny how Avery will pretty much pose any time these days! She loves to put her hands on her hips- Miss Sassy Pants! 

These pictures are just to show a little of Bryce's silly personality! I can't believe he will be 2 in a couple of weeks!!

On Christmas Eve Eve, I let the kids open what I thought was PJs. It turns out that only Bryce opened some. Avery opened an outfit on accident ( I need to number the gifts, lol), but she was okay with wearing her similar princess set. My little man loves some Thomas the Train!

The kids made some seriously sweet Christmas trees...

Bryce and Avery bug Jake to death about the "back pack"! They sing the Dora song and hang onto Daddy's neck for a ride! It is probably their most favorite thing to do- ha! Isn't he a good daddy?

I tried to simplify a lot this year. I did almost all of my shopping online. Because we are in an apartment, decorations were simple. I never really got around to Christmas cards, but I did send some to those who sent them to us right near Christmas. With all that we have going on, I just couldn't stress myself out more than I already was! Instead of my usual homemade cookies for Santa, we made some from a package and added Hershey's kisses to them. The great thing was that Avery did most of the work! Bryce decided to watch and sneak an apple from the counter. 

Once again, we spent Christmas Eve at Grammy's. Avery and Bryce had fun playing with their cousin, Kali, and we all had great food and opened  presents. Avery got an Elsa doll, a Sophia microphone music toy, a My Little Pony doll, and a few other nice things. Bryce got a singing Olaf, a really cool tractor and horse set, and a Toy Story book bag. Grammy always makes sure the kids have reindeer food to put out for Santa's reindeer too. 

Both Avery and Bryce were out on the ride home. Bryce never woke up, but Avery made sure she put out the reindeer food and cookies for Santa before calling it a night. 

Santa found our apartment, and Avery and Bryce had a blast going through their gifts and opening presents! 

  

Burney made sure we remembered what the day was all about on Christmas morning, and he brought us some candles to have a little celebration breakfast for Jesus's birthday. 

We had cinnamon roll waffles with sprinkles, and Avery and Bryce both blew out a candle for Jesus! 

Santa only left a little bit of his cookies behind, and he drank all of his milk. 

We took a little Christmas morning selfie before heading into the living room to check out our loot! Thankfully, Mommy's morning face was hidden!

Mommy and Daddy had decided to not exchange gifts (other than what Santa put in our stockings); however, Daddy didn't follow the agreement. I got my first Coach purse! 

We got dressed and headed over to see GiGi and Papaw. While it was just us on Christmas Day, thankfully Michael is coming in a few days, and Mitchell will be here in January for a visit. 

Papaw and GiGi gave Bryce a cool tool set and some clothes, and Avery got a real tea set and an awesome doll house!  Papaw let GiGi open all of her presents too. 

Papaw takes a while to eat now after all of his surgeries and his current jaw issues. He tends to eat at the living room table, but Avery loves to join him and keep him company. I love the way my daughter lights up her Papaw's eyes. 

While everything (other than Papaw being in pain from his jaw) seemed okay on Christmas Day, The day after didn't go so well. We had a busy weekend ahead with both Avery and Jake being in a friend's wedding. We got a call on the way to the rehearsal dinner from Michael, and Papaw was being rushed to the ER after having a serious seizure. He has been in the hospital since. While he is doing better, they are still running tests to figure things out. 

Like I said before, Christmas IS my favorite. The best thing about it is spending time with those I love most in this world and resting on the fact that I have a Savior who came to this Earth for me and them. It's the best gift any of us could ever receive, and I am so thankful to understand that. My heart is heavy in prayer for my Dad, and my hope is in the One who holds it all in his hands. 

Merry Christmas!