December... Wrapping Up 2017!

C and I got the gingerbread houses ready to go for decorating

while S was at a Nutcracker performance.

They got their own chocolate advent calendars and were very

happy children!

After our tree fell, M and C went to town making us a super-duper-heavy duty

tree stand!  It works great, but did require me to order a new tree skirt because this

thing is HUGE!

Passing on the tradition of making buckeyes!

Don't let this picture fool you, he was stoked about his new 

hair cut!

C's friend had a Ninja birthday party - fun!

C went to a cookie cooking class - S and I went shopping for his

Christmas presents from her while he was there!

Beautiful sunrises lately!

S had a cupcake cooking class - C and I went shopping for

her Christmas present from him while she was there!

The work crew at our Christmas lunch!

My laptop finally bit the dust and I got a new one!!!

Color Clay Café:)  The kids worked really hard on their pieces and put a lot of 

time and effort into them!  I did one too this time!

Every.Single.Year!!! During Christmas break this kiddo

gets sick!  This time - strep!

Spin Art!

Game time!

Christmas

This morning started off with two excited little kiddos coming down the stairs to a plethora of presents under the tree!

We did things slightly different this year and opened up about half of the gifts, made a delicious pancake breakfast, and then finished opening the gifts after we'd filled our bellies! I think we will try to do this every year!

The kids had a huge Christmas last year and this year wasn't quite as crazy.  Although, C did get a .22 rifle, so that is pretty crazy!  He also got some Nerf Guns, remote control cars and clothes.  S didn't ask for much other than clothes, so she got those, some crafty things and a karaoke machine!

We then had a late lunch over at Lara and Elliott's house!  It is always a chaotic time over there and this year was no different!  C and Daven had a big time antagonizing S and playing outside!  After we ate lunch, we visited for a while and then came back to the house and got dinner ready for Grandmamma and Granddaddy to come over!  We ate, again, opened gifts, again and then the kids put on a karaoke show for us all!

It felt like we had Christmas three times today, and all three times was with family!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year which allowed for us to spend our morning at church!  I grew up going to candlelight Christmas Eve services, but M did not, so we are inconsistent on this tradition and I think it has been probably 7 years since we've been to a candlelight service.  It was ice to at least be in church on Christmas Eve this year even if it wasn't a candlelight service - it was still considered a Christmas Eve service!

We spent the afternoon baking cookies for Santa and decorating them, then before bed the kids sprinkled the reindeer food around so that Santa would be sure to find our house:)  Every year Gigi and Grandpa give the kids new Christmas jammies to wear Christmas Eve, so we opened those gifts as well!

The kids went to bed super-excited with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads!

Christmas Adam

We spent our traditional Christmas Adam evening over at the Sudduth's house!  All generations enjoy each other and the night is one that is special to us each year!  It really feels like Christmas now!!

Ice Skating

We met Amanda and Darcy downtown and went ice skating and ate lunch together this afternoon!  The kids are now old enough to make it on their own on the ice well enough for Amanda and I to not skate this year!  That's a first!! The kids skated for about an hour and then we ate lunch together before having to be responsible and do things like work(Amanda) and go to the grocery store(me)!  Even though both kids came home with scrapes and bruises from busting it on the ice, they still want to do it again!  What a fun way to spend some time together!

Polar Express 2017 - Bryson City, NC

Back in October, we decided to purchase tickets to the Polar Express done at the Great Smoky Mountain RR in Bryson City, NC!

We have never done this before and figured it was about time!  The kids had a half day at school today, M got off work early and then we drove the rather long(there was a wreck!) drive up into the mountains!  We arrived with time to spare and grabbed a snack at the café across from the depot.  It started to rain pretty heavily as we finished up and we ran back across to the depot to wait for the train to start boarding!

Finally!  Time to get one!  We had a blast!!  The ride was so fun, our "chefs" were a riot, there was lots of caroling and dancing, hot chocolate and cookies were eaten and Santa even joined us!

I'm so glad that we did this - and that we waited until they were a little older and could really enjoy the whole experience!

We found Whoville when we arrived in town!

She's wearing my old robe from when I was her age;)

The awe of riding a train - a perk to taking the early train, other

than getting home before midnight, is that you can see for

a bit out the windows!

The conductor checking our tickets!

We stopped in at the toy maker's shop after the ride and ended up spending/being stuck

there for an hour! The kids loved it though and he was great with them!  He

told the Christmas story and enlightened us all to parts of the story 

that we'd never heard or considered before!