Santa Comes to North Carolina!

I love Christmas! It really is the most wonderful time of the year. We had so much fun in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas this year-- with lots of traditions (old and new), holiday baking, movie watching, lots and lots of shopping, Christmas party-ing, and even a small town parade to kick things off! 

 We got there just in the nick of time, too-- it was held in Aberdeen, which is just a teeny-tiny little town south of Pinehurst. The whole parade only covered about 2 blocks, but we had plenty of sidewalk space to watch from as the "crowds" were a little sparse.  

Really, there was only like 10 other people on the street, because most of the town was IN the parade, but my kids got a TON of candy! Plus they got to see Santa close-up at the end of the 10 minute parade. Sometimes living in the country has its perks! We will miss how Aberdeen and Pinehurst hold little parades for every holiday!

 The Saturday before Christmas our ward threw a "Polar Express" party-- and gave all the children "tickets" to come board the train to head to the North Pole. They were allowed to wear pajamas, but adults were strongly encouraged not to, and judging by the likes of some of the characters in our ward, that was a very wise move because who knows what some people would have shown up in! 

 There were train tracks leading into the gym, where our Bishopric was dressed like conductors and they punched all the kids' tickets. Inside the gym there were tons of hanging snowflakes and Christmas lights draped everywhere. They did a great job with the decorations!

 A Mommy and Leah selfie! We got there a little bit late, and were relegated to sitting clear at the back-most table and were the LAST ones to go through the food line (about 45 minutes later), so we had a LOT of time to kill!

 It was a potluck, but they provided a Hot Cocoa Bar for dessert with tons of different flavored cocoas and toppings, and then had a small program featuring different people in our ward sharing their musical talents, and then that was it. It was very simple and the kids loved it!

 The kids have been busy helping me deck the halls. I was going to be a Scrooge this year, and not unpack all of our decorations because I wanted to go through them and make sure they were safely re-packed for our move this summer, but both Lucy and Zach had all three of our big Christmas storage bins unloaded the minute we got them out of the attic, and there was no consolidating after that! 

 My kids love setting up all of our different Nativities that we've collected over the years. Jon decided to moonlight on his days off from the Air Force, so he worked 8 a.m.-10:30 p.m. on Monday, and then from 8 a.m.- 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They were the loooongest days ever, for both of us, but I suppose it made us extra grateful to finally be together on Christmas Eve!

 Our little Holiday Leah posing in front of our Advent Calendar. We finally it made it to Day 24 and got to put Baby Jesus in His manger bed. They kids loved taking turns opening the pocket each morning and watching as the whole scene slowly came together!

 It's become kind of our unofficial tradition to get lunch at Chick fil A on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure how it started-- but I think the first year we lived here, we just wanted to get the crazy kids out of the house, and then ever since we've been going back on Christmas Eve. Plus it was my first and only chance to have their AMAZING holiday peppermint milkshake!!! 

 We ran some final errands, and then got home just in time to start "The Nativity" movie, which is how we get in the appropriate mood for our Holy Supper. For dinner, we eat foods that Mary and Joseph might have eaten that night-- things like fish, olives, unleavened bread, goat cheese, and grape juice. The kids love eating by candlelight!

 We invited the Spanish missionaries to eat with us, since it was just us, and it was kind of nice to have the excitement from extra visitors. We ate on the floor, and tried to keep it as reverent as possible with three very, very excited kids!

 Next was our own Nativity-- we read the story from Luke 2 and sing carols. Lucy was Mary, Jon was Joseph, and you can just barely see Zach-O in the background as our one and only shepherd (with a light saber staff). Lucy takes her job very seriously-- and you can see the expression of reverence and devotion on her face! We watched a few of the new Church produced Christmas movies, including "He Is The Gift," which is awesome, and at the end Zach turned to me and said to me very contemplatively, "Mom, that's what Christmas is really about, isn't it?" It was a great moment.

 I made a delicious ice cream peppermint chocolate pie for dessert that I'd gotten from Pinterest, and then it was time to take the missionaries back home.  Hopefully we made their holidays a little bit brighter and not quite so lonely!  

 Once home we quickly settled into our other Christmas Eve traditions: opening new PJs, reading one last Christmas story from off the stairs, setting out cookies and milk for Santa, putting out our stockings where we want Santa to leave our presents, and then going right to sleep! 

 Cute little guys in their new pajamas, all ready for sweet dreams of sugar plums to dance in their heads!

It's such fun having all three of my little ones still believe in Santa Claus. I'm not too sure how much longer Lucy will be a "Believer." She is really starting to ask some hard questions about the whole process-- and I have to come up with more and more elaborate explanations to answer them. Christmas Eve feels so magical with all three of them just hoping Santa comes though!

Cookies and milk for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer). Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night, indeed!

 The parents' tradition has become to sit up and watch a Christmas movie while we wait for the kids to really be soundly asleep, before we put out their loot and set up their stuff. So after watching "It's A Wonderful Life" (which is my fav), we quickly got to work! Lucy got three new Harry Potter posters, a Gryffindor shirt, hat, and socks, Harry Potter knick knacks for her collection (snow globe, wand pen, chocolate frog, Bertie Bott's Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Fudge Flies, a HP calendar, etc.), and some fun girly stuff for stocking stuffers. 

 Zachary got a new Hot Wheels track with a loop de loop, a double light saber, a Wolverine costume, Star Wars sticker book, Ninjago lego set, and several Wii games-- for the Wii all three kids got from Santa to share!  

 WeeWee's got a Frozen chair (that turns into a bed), an Anna doll with matching dress-up dress, Frozen figurines, and some new bubble bath. 

 The kids actually slept really well-- all the way until 7:20ish, and Jon and I were the ones who kept waking up to check what time it was! Ancient tradition states that they can't come out until Mom and Dad have gone out to check and see if Santa has come, and have turned on all the lights, and then finally, when they hear Christmas music play, they can come out! Leah went right to her new Frozen chair! She knew it was hers!

 Three VERY happy campers! I'm so thankful they're still easy to please-- they were so thrilled with all of their new toys, even down to the littlest stocking stuffer, and kept thanking Santa out loud so that the Elf on the Shelf could go back to the North Pole and tell Santa how good he'd done.;) 

 J-Man spoiled me for Christmas, as usual, and got me a really nice new winter coat, and some fun gift cards for me to able to go shopping. What a guy!

 As I've said on this blog before, Christmas Brunch is hands-down my favorite meal of the entire year. Everyone typically is still happy and just basking in the glow of new toys and fun presents, there's no rush to be anywhere or do anything, and being all together as a family to eat a big breakfast is just plain FUN.

 We had creme brulee french toast, sausages, deviled egg casserole, shrimp cocktail, cinnamon bun white hot chocolate, and Martinelli's. It was fabulous, if I do say so myself! 

 My two favorite "mans" happily eating breakfast! 

 Oh yeah! Zach-O Man looking super legit in his new costume! He is amassing quite the collection of super heroes and bad guys. I think boys like to play dress-up just as much as little girls do.

 Miss Leah put her new Anna dress as soon as we opened it, and wore it the rest of the day!

My kids are so blessed to be on the receiving end of such generous and fun presents-- both from the grandmas and grandpas, as well as their aunts and uncles. Auntie Whitney hand-sewed these cute little aprons for Lucy and Zach to use when they help me cook, and they are adorable! Perfect for Lucy and the new Easy Bake Oven Grandma Cardon gave her. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon putting together and playing with toys, watching movies, playing Mario Kart on the new Wii, and just enjoying Christmas. 

 Unfortunately I lost my mind for the rest of the day and didn't take anymore pictures except for this last one: a picture I sent to my mom to show her the new necklace Whitney gave me! I, like most moms, usually sit at the other end of the camera and take all the pictures! My first resolution for 2015 is to be in more pictures, as proof I'm actually there! We had an awesome turkey dinner (which I brined, and it was fabulous), mashed potatoes and stuffing, rolls, salad, Grinch punch, and leftover peppermint dessert. It was a really good day. 

 The kids were happy to just spend the next few days at home, which was a refreshing change as usually they're bored to death, but we finally made it out of the house the next night when we tried the brand new Red Bowl Asian Bistro in town. Leah's fortune from her cookie totally cracked me up-- "The Night Life is for You." Ha ha! If two-year old's had "nightlife's" they would be SPOT ON. 

Saturday we drove up to Cary and did a little shopping at all of the after-Christmas sales. We got to stop for lunch at my MOST favorite place-- the Jasmine Bistro, which has made me addicted to chicken shwarma and falafel. It's seriously the bomb. With a little detour to stock up on Great Harvest bread, stops at REI, Old Navy, and Charming Charlie  (wohoo!), we wrapped up our wonderful Christmas holiday. We are SO thankful for so many things-- our blessings are numberless and we count among the most important of these our Savior, who truly is the first gift of Christmas, each other, and YOU-- our dear family and friends! Merry Christmas!

A Dash Through December!

Lucy felt so lucky to have had Grandma and Grandpa Cardon fly in for her baptism, especially considering the fact that they probably spent about as much time in an airport (or on an airplane) as they did at our house, and we were all so sad to see them leave on Sunday evening! My Dad was able to stay an extra day however, and my mom was able to stay even longer-- until early Friday morning, so we had a few more days of fun and visitors to look forward to the following week. 

I started Monday off as usual, dropping Lucy and Zach off at school, but then detoured home to pick up the rest of the crew for breakfast at Waffle House, which is my Dad's absolute favorite. In fact, I'm not sure if he's figured out how he'll get his hashbrown and waffle-fix when we move, since this here is Waffle House Nation??

This picture is classic Leah! Jammies still on, crazy bed-head, and an expression on her face that is way beyond her two years of life. At least she's enjoying that waffle! Puhlease don't interrupt her!

My Dad decided he'd better get his golfing quota met for the day, since this is most likely his last visit to Golfer's Paradise before we move next June, so while he battled the bitter cold, my mom took this undercover picture of me teaching Body Pump, which is kinda embarrassing. But thanks for being my biggest fan, Mom! Ha ha!

 

After school the girls (minus Leah) headed to the nail salon for a pretty sweet pedicure. We ended up with some very beautiful (and sparkly) toenails just in time for Christmas! We met back up with Grandpa the Babysitter for dinner at Texas Longhorn and then had to bid him farewell as he left super early the next morning. 

We spent the rest of the week enjoying Grandma Joanie.  We made a Costco/ Trader Joe's run up to Raleigh, stopped for lunch at Jasmin's, read Christmas stories, went Christmas shopping around Pinehurst, had lunch at Panera, tried out a Body Step class, and just relaxed at home. It is so unbelievably nice to have another adult at home with me to break up the monotony of being stuck inside all day! 

We also took a couple of morning walks around the neighborhood with Leah in the stroller. Thursday morning was FREEZING, but Leah was a good sport and let us put on her kitty hat and gloves.

That afternoon we checked out one of our favorite local antique shops where I found me some cute shabby-chic shelves, and then we drove to Carthage to try the Pik N Pig, which was meant to be experienced with my Dad on Monday, but they were closed! Uggh! We had a yummy BBQ pork lunch in honor of Tom Tom in the car while Leah napped.

Of course now it's become a tradition to make Christmas sugar cookies with Grandma, and Thursday afternoon was our last chance. Zach literally flew off the bus after school ready to help Grandma, so while I took Lucy to piano lessons, Leah and Zach stayed home and "helped."

Not exactly sure how helpful this girl was, as there was a pretty sizable pile of cookies pushed to one side that had been licked by Leah, but she sure liked putting that frosting on! 

And don't worry, Lucy wasn't left out! They saved some cookies for Luce to frost and decorate when we got home. She is quite the sprinkle artiste!

Ta-Da! The finished product! This is my mom's recipe that I can remember all the way back to when I was a little kid at Christmas. I think it's from the 1970's Betty Crocker recipe book.

That night we got to attend Zach's Kindergarten Christmas concert at his school. The kids all caught the Chirstmas spirit and got dressed up in their holly-jolliest outfits! 

The concert was about Santa and Mrs. Claus picking out a Christmas tree, and was really cute. I was proud of Zach-- who was an elf, and knew just about all the words and actions to the songs. He's there on the second row from the top, second from the right side.

It was so fun to be Zach's fan club after the concert! Lucy looked so cute rocking her new shawl Grandma Cardon knitted for her. I love my little elf!

We had such a wonderful time with family this last week or so, and it's been really hard for my kids to say good-bye to everyone, one by one. Zach got VERY upset when he realized nobody would be staying with us until Christmas, but I have to consider how lucky we've been that this is the one and only Christmas we'll have to spend alone in North Carolina. As our time winds down, it's meant SO much to us to have family come and visit over these last four years-- especially for things like holidays and birthdays! We are so appreciative of the time and money sacrificed on our behalf. The only truly bad thing is that when family comes, it makes you realize what you've been missing all along, and when they go, it leaves a big hole that's hard to fill back in. Thanks for coming Grandma Joanie!