We had another wonderful Christmas in the monkey house! We had a whirlwind visit with family the weekend before, but I forgot to take my camera so no photos until we got back home on Christmas Eve.
I helped the kids make cookies for Santa, then that evening, Eric helped them get out an assortment of yummy treats for The Jolly Old Elf and his flying reindeer crew. I didn't catch a photo until after Santa had made his visit. Boy, that guy is FAST! He ate all the celery with peanut butter dip, all the cookies, most of the milk, and carried all the carrots and oats out to the raindeer while Eric and I were in the basement. We didn't hear a thing!
Santa left some frosty footprints when he visited us. He brought each of the kids their own tablet, filled their stockings with candy, and hid our Christmas pickle quick as a wink. Our little elf Elmer also left with Santa. He left us a note letting us know that he would be back again next year, but the kids sure will miss him! : )
Notice the dark strip on our tree? This is the year that our prelit tree gave up the good fight. It had lots of lights burnt out when we set it up, and I replaced all that I could, but we ran out of bulbs and they don't make that kind anymore... after we fixed the worst of it, we put all our ornaments on like usual and a week later, an entire section of lights went black! Oh well, it was too late by that point to do anything about it, so we just lived with it. It's the year of the stripe! : )
Last year Logan woke up at 4 am... this year we told him not to wake us until 7. He still woke up super early (around 5 I think) and he saw all the foot prints then promptly woke up his sister to share the joy and wonder. What a swell brother, huh? : ) But being such an obedient son, he let us sleep until 7 as requested...
The toys were kept to a minimum this year, since my two seem to be growing out of the traditional toy stage.
They had their eyes on these comfy chairs since August... : )
And the dogs could smell these GIANT rawhide chew bones from across the house! They begged for them for weeks!!!
Here are some other random gift photos...
Bed pillows (so they will leave mine ALONE!!!)
Logan got a case for his compound bow.
Clip board for homework in our comfy chairs!
FAMILY GAME TIME! This one is really fun!
slippers
And Mom gifts... I got a mug from Logan and a ring, key chain, and jewelry box from Amanda. They picked them out for me at the Holiday Shop at school. They also shopped with Eric for earrings and a new necklace for me.
Logan bought Amanda three puppies... and I did't get a photo of it, but Amanda bought Logan the new Big Game Hunter from Cabela's. I think he spent the rest of Christmas playing it!
Billow for a fireplace .. but we're going to use it for our campfire... Logan loves playing with the one at Grandma and Grandpa's. He is constantly asking if he can fan the flames. Now my little pyro can blow to his heart's content!
Eric got lots of cool stuff... sleeping pants, shirts, tools, but the thing he enjoyed the most was the brain teaser puzzles I got him. : )
And I enjoyed putting together a Christmas puzzle Gayle gave us. The kids and Eric help some too, but it was mostly a Diane project.
So there you have it. Christmas 2012. Now you know why it took me so long to post this. I think I spent an hour getting this ready!
