Christmas Eve '11

We had a great Christmas weekend with family! It started Christmas Eve night at our house with the Hauser side of the family. Good food, lots of laughs, and a super fun hot chocolate bar! We also had a little "game" for the fam- our Elf on the Shelf, "Twinkle", went missing! My aunt Linda found him in our gingerbread house and received a reward of 5 lottery tickets! So fun- I'm thinking it will be a new Christmas Eve tradition. 

Christmas Cookies

Every year we make cut-out Christmas cookies and decorate them. This year it was a 2 day process, but that's ok because we were able to spread out the fun! Makaylin had an interesting eye for frosting application and was pouring mounds of sugar sprinkles on every one. I would expect nothing less from a 2 year old! Ryker got in on the fun, too. Only for a minute or two each day, but that is better than not at all!

  [please don't mind her hair. it is a hot mess. she needs a haircut so bad, but is such an anxious child.]

Our Weekend

Our weekend was full of this.

St. Nick Day!

As a child, my siblings and I always anticipated Dec. 6th. We would wait for a loud knock on the door and run as fast as we could to try to catch a peek of "St. Nick". Although we never caught him, we did always find a huge bag full of snacks, coloring books, and small toys! It isn't like Christmas- no big gifts; just small, fun surprises!

I have introduced this tradition to Adam (I couldn't believe he didn't know what St. Nick day was!) and we decided to carry it on with our kiddos. This was the kid's 3rd St. Nick day and it was a hit!

Elf Antics

What our Elf has been up to the last couple of days.

Breakfast with Twinkle the Elf

I bought "Elf on the Shelf" this year and we introduced him to our family this morning! Makaylin named him "Twinkle" and is having fun with the whole idea. She was a little hesitant at first, but she's warming up to it. I'm not sure that she understand the concept 100%, but it's going to be such a fun tradition for us in the years to come!

Of course, we welcomed Twinkle with a "North Pole Breakfast"; an idea I found on Pinterest. Adam and I got everything ready last night (after an OSU Bedlam WIN/Big 12 Champs!), so the kids woke up to a super fun breakfast this morning. We had "snow covered" donuts, "reindeer kisses", and "snowman soup". It was so much fun and the perfect way to start our Sunday. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Pies

Finishing up our pies on Thanksgiving morning.

My Little Sous Chef

This morning I was prepping for our big Thanksgiving dinner so I didn't have so much to do tomorrow morning. I decided to make the chocolate butterscotch pie and deviled eggs today and leave the rest for Thanksgiving morning. Makaylin was all about helping and did such a good job!