A Fun, Old-Fashioned Family Christmas

All our lives, Adam and I have wanted to have a fun, old-fashioned family Christmas, no matter how much pine sap or rodent/SWAT team-induced destruction that might include. Luckily for us (although maybe not for our blog readers who would enjoy a movie-worthy tale) our Christmas wasn't quite that eventful, but we did end up with some fun, some old-fashionedness, and a whole lot of family.

The girls did a great job going to sleep on Christmas Eve so that Santa would be sure to come.  On Christmas morning, they were excited to put on their Christmas dresses and start the day.  Adam found some Disney princess Santa hats for the girls, so we gave them those as the first gifts of Christmas.

Here's the first gift of Christmas - getting kind of anxious to open it!

The Santa hats were a pretty big hit - Abby wore hers for the rest of the day.  After they opened the hats, they headed down to see if Santa had come.  The girls must have been good this year - Santa left quite a jackpot!  Nora was pretty excited about a My Little Pony, and Abby was very excited about a Cinderella book.  Both of the girls love their new coloring books, and of course their candy.  Every time that they've eaten a piece of it over the last couple days, Abby's told us that Santa sure knows what little girls like.

Checking out the stockings - Santa sure was good to us this year!

After the stockings we took a break from opening presents for a traditional cinnamon roll breakfast.  I used this recipe and would highly recommend it - they were devoured!  After breakfast it was time to start in on the wrapped presents.  One of the first ones that Abby opened was this year's homemade present - an apron.

Abby's apron, also known as a "cooking dress" or "cooking robe."

Nora has become an expert present unwrapper.  She tears right into them without any help, and always with a smile on her face.

Is that a Barbie puzzle?  Eh, it doesn't matter.  I just love opening presents!

Nora was so excited about her Barbie coloring book from Abby she ran over to give her a hug as soon as it was opened.

Nora's final present of the morning was her apron.  I think she'd been a little worried that she wasn't getting one when she saw Abby's so she was pretty happy to see it at the end of the morning.

She couldn't stop touching the buttons on the top.  We'd ask her to put her hands down, and they'd get about halfway down when they found their way right back up.

Mom's so proud of her handiwork!

After the girls had opened all of their presents, they gave me what they had chosen for me this year - an awesome hat and scarf!  Those girls totally get me!

Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty awful from Christmas Eve until this morning, so we don't have any pictures of Adam from Christmas.  Well, none that we can get to, anyway.  One of Abby and Nora's presents this year was a Fisher Price digital camera, so they walked around all day taking pictures of everything, and at least half of his head is in several of those.  I didn't realize that the USB cable wasn't included with the camera, though, so we aren't able to get them off the camera just yet.  Just as well, since Abby has photographic evidence of my multiple Christmas naps.

The old-fashioned part of our Christmas came in our Christmas dinner.  We've been experimenting with  roasting chestnuts (in the oven, not over an open fire, which is probably good because it turns out chestnuts explode while roasting) and Adam used some of them to make a Nut Wellington as our vegetarian main dish.  We also roasted a Cornish hen for the meat lovers among us.  The side dishes were more contemporary, but we went British traditional for dessert as well, with a self-saucing chocolate pudding.  Served hot with a little whipped cream and Adam declared it to be one of the best desserts he's ever had in his life.

We're leaving tomorrow for a week of family, first with my family for a few days and then with Adam's, so the last part of our fun, old-fashioned family Christmas will be complete.  *sigh* We did it.

Christmas Pancakes with 'Love'

I just had a small story that I thought I'd like to record for posterity, just a Dad prerogative. Abby and I have a tradition of making pancakes together, it goes way back. Though we really hardly ever do it any more, every once in a while she'll get around early Sunday morning and ask if we can make pancakes together and we have a grand time. When you ask Abby why her pancakes taste so good she'll proudly tell you that it's because of all the love she puts in. What you don't realize is that 'Love' is equal parts coughing, sneezing, fingers, and other general unsanitary-ness.

Anyway, Kristin was finishing up some Christmas wrapping and miscellaneous chores this afternoon while I was watching the girls and some Sunday football (mostly football I admit). We decided it would be fun to make red and green pancakes for dinner, in honor of it being Christmas Eve eve, and to stick with a menu that Dad could handle and the girls would enjoy.

Nora and Abby each pulled up a stool and after I added the ingredients, they did the stirring. The funny part of the story is that while Abby added her usual amount of 'Love', this was the first time Nora had mixed pancakes with us and so she got to add her own brand of baking 'Love'. I took a picture for the record.

I'm told it's not obvious if you don't already know, but there are actually stickers mixed in with Nora's pancake. They both love stickers, so I guess I should be proud that they're in the Christmas sharing spirit. And yes, I also guess it shows you how much attention I pay to them while we're cooking and watching football.

Anyway, I removed as many stickers as I could find. I suppose any that made it into the final product were just more fiber right? After that we made giant pancakes and cut them into Christmas shapes. It was a fun evening for all.

Pre-School Christmas Party

Among our growing list of family Christmas traditions is the pre-school Christmas party. Both girls did an excellent job, and it was fun for Kristin and I to remember last year (when everyone refused to sing and was terrified of Santa) and remember how much the girls have grown up and changed in the last year.

Here's a nice shot of the class this year.

Some videos of the singing:

And finally, Abby with Santa. Nora decided she'd rather sit with Mom and Dad and enjoy the snacks from a safe distance.

All the kids were assigned something to bring for the snack portion of the party.  This year, Abby was asked to bring juice, which she absolutely loved.  She told everyone she could multiple times that she brought the juice.  Mom was kind of disappointed not to get to show off some mad baking skills by bringing cookies, but at least Abby was proud!

She's a Barbie Girl - Nora's 3rd Birthday

Today, after an entire year of adamant claims, Nora is actually three years old. It's been quite a year, and as always seems to be the case it's just hard to believe how much she's grown and changed.

Some of Dad's personal favorites include her burgeoning conversation skills, intense imagination, and ridiculous sense of humor. It's hilarious (when not hilariously frustrating) to have a 2 year old who insists on talking in different voices and personas at different times, depending on what she deems most appropriate.  Mom has really enjoyed watching Nora's play develop.  She and Abby play so well together now!  And when we go to a park, Nora is so brave and loves running around like a maniac on all the equipment.

At any rate, the day started out well. Like all little girl birthdays in our family it started out with huge pancake, in this case it was M&M and chocolate chip. Not shown below Nora actually grabbed her fork and tried to dig in immediately after the candle was out. But eventually she graciously agreed that it would be better to share with the rest of the family.

After that Mom and Nora went to the indoor park with friends while Abby was at preschool. They met some friends and played for quite a while. I'm told in true Barbie fashion Nora's favorite game this time was driving the red convertible.

At Nora's request her cake this year was a Barbie themed as well. Personally, I'm really impressed that Kristin could pull it off so well. It looked better in person and tasted better than it looked. In true Nora fashion it was chocolate, that kid loves chocolate.

The evening ended with the opening of many Barbie and Barbie-themed presents. Abby picked out a Disney Cinderella Barbie for Nora last weekend, she did an excellent job thinking of her sister and keeping it a surprise. Mom even included a Barbie decorated bag to hold all the new Barbie toys (a small present for Dad I think).

Nora had a great birthday, so great in fact that as of the next morning she's still enjoying being 3 and has yet to say she's actually 4.

Operation North Pole - 2012

In the midst of our many seasonal and birthday activities we made our yearly trek to the North Pole this Monday to visit Santa. It was probably our best trip yet, we had several pictures where everyone was looking at the camera and no one cried or tried to hide from Santa.

That said, while the girls continue to talk a big game they're a little overwhelmed once we actually get there. I believe they ended up asking for a doll and coloring book.

All in all though it was a great trip.

Short Fall Update

It's been pointed out to me many times that we haven't updated the blog in a while. The whole Fall / Christmas season is so busy for us we just haven't had the time. Hopefully we'll post something in more detail later, but for now I thought I could at least throw up some cute pictures of the girls (I realize that's really what everyone is looking for anyway.)

In the random life events category Abby had her first official trip to the dentist. She did an awesome job. The dentist did talk a little about braces, which gave me the opportunity to have my first, mouth gapping I-can't-believe-how-much-kids's-cost moment in a while.

We had Thanksgiving at Aunt Jen's house in Joplin. Unfortunately, I don't have those pictures so you'll have to bug someone else to get much of a blog post about that. I can say we had a great time seeing the family, eating Aunt Jen's great cooking, and the girls did a great job on a really long car trip. It was a lot to ask and we were proud of their effort.

When we got home Christmas decorations started going up first thing. By this point the house is looking especially festive, here are some shots of the tree going up:

For now that's all he wrote, Merry Christmas!