With Christmas being on a Sunday this year, we knew that would add a little extra chaos to our typical Sunday morning, so on the kids first day of winte break we had an early opening of the gifts (Harv gets the credit for this great idea).

I got to open my gift from Blake first.  Lovely, isn't it?

 

 

 

Blake and Alexandria had their holiday parties on the same day.  Fortunately, Alexandria's party was in the morning, while Blake's was in the afternoon.  So Matt and I were able to attend both of them.

Mrs. Garrison always has such fun activities for the preschoolers during their party.

Candy cane golf.

Tree decorating.

Books and puzzles.

More tree decorating.

Make your own ornament.

This was their cute gingerbread man tree.

Snowman bowling.

Snack time.

And the kids had a fun gift exchange.

After we left Alexandria's party I told him that the easy party was over, and that Blake's party would be a slightly more chaotic affair.  Preschool only has 8 kids, while Kindergarten has 22. 

There was a lot more sugar at the K party too.  Luckily Blake was satisfied with his cookie and left that giant cupcake for me.

Later that night we went to see some lights in town.  Some members of our family were more impressed than others with this light display.

How would you like to be their neighbors?

There was no horse or sleigh, but there was a delicious meal, lots of relatives and a beautiful day.

With some help from Uncle Bob, Blake climbed up the tree that at least a few generations of the Foiles clan have climbed.

After I told him the story about the huge black snake that Ma saw in that tree when she was a kid, he was ready to get down.

Keegan wasn't afraid though!

Alexandria and Lucy(just three weeks apart in age) had a great time playing with their pet deer.

He got a the total spa treatment while I was out there with them--massage, pedicure, and false eyelashes (grass).

And Alexandria got to hold her newest cousin (Tom and Amie's little gal, Elise) who was just two weeks old.  Blake declined. 

The past couple of weeks have been full of these kinds of mornings with the kids being on their winter break.  I am really going to miss them today when they head back to school.  I am helping at Blake's school today though, so I will get to see him about an hour after he leaves and then will pick up Alexandria at noon when preschool gets out.  Easing back into the routine here, but it sort of feels like the first day of school all over again for me.

Homemade doughnuts and hot cocoa--yum!

December was a fun month for some new recipes and crafts via Pinterest.  I think all of them were a success too!

First up...baked doughnuts.

I don't own a doughtnut cutter, so we improvised with cookie cutters.  They were cuter anyway.

Then Blake had a little Gingerbread man project for homework that he wanted to start on the moment he brought it home (I don't expect that attitude toward homework will last, but I can enjoy it while it does).

And then an annual favorite activity--decorating Gingerbread houses.  This year they had a selection of things to decorate at Target, so Alexandria chose Santa sleighs for she and Blake.

Alexandria was a big fan of the "bling" for Santa.

We tried a new sugar cookie recipe and an equally tasty new frosting recipe this year as well. 

Sprinkles Queen!

And now for my favorite (and easiest) Pinterest-inspired project. 

We painted these clothes pins, taped this ribbon up on the cabinets and used them to display all of our holiday cards.

I LOVE how it turned out, and I plan to leave this up for a few more weeks at least.

And finally, the kids have been busy with their own crafting and wrapping.  It seems like every time I walked by the tree we had a new package under there.

These were easily my favorite gifts this year. 

Dad started out the early gift giving with the gifts that he bought the kids a couple of weeks before Christmas.

They had to hide their eyes because Dad's not much of a gift wrapper. 

Blake had some sort of weird fascination with rubbing Matt's ear that night.