Christmas 2011

It's hard to believe Christmas is already over and we are 10 days into 2012!  We had a great Christmas this year, and we have had such a great year with so many blessings, especially little Drew, who celebrated his first Christmas this year!

Mum Mum flew in on the Wednesday before Christmas and helped me get everything ready for Christmas and had a great time playing with the girlies and holding Drew.  We went to IKEA after I picked her up from the airport while Lauren was at school.  Alison had the best time running from couch to couch, trying out each one.  She kept saying "Mommy, Don't leave me!"

Christmas Eve before we went to church, Mum Mum and the girls made some cookies for Santa.  They both had a great time decorating the cookies with sprinkles, especially Alison since it was her first time decorating!

Family photo before church

Mum Mum with her 3 grandkids

My three sweeties!

We went to church on Christmas Eve and all the kids sat with us during the service, and they were pretty good, but I am so thankful for Kidworks!  It was nice to have them with us, and I always love singing Silent Night at the end, and it was even more precious this year since I was holding MY baby boy!  Brad went to pick David and Blair up at the airport, and they were a little early!  They were so happy to get here after a day of traveling from the west coast, and we were all happy to see them, especially Alison, who wanted "Aunt Bwair" to put her to bed almost every night they were here!  We had a super yummy dinner of ham, biscuits, 5 cup salad, broccoli casserole and cranberry salad and chocolate pie for dessert (Granny would have been so proud!).  The kids put on their Christmas PJS, put out cookies for Santa, and checked to see if Santa was close by and then ran up to go to bed.  They were asleep pretty quickly, which was good!

Uncle David meets Drew

Aunt Blair meets Drew

"These are better!"

Princess Alison and LAuren with Snoopy

Blair and David with their quilt

Mum Mum with her iPad

playing Legos with Uncle David

The whole crew!

A stocking for everyone...

Christmas morning, we were all surprised by how good Santa was to us!  The presents were pouring out all around the tree.  Drew was the first kid up, and the girls got up around 8 and rushed downstairs to see what Santa had left.  Alison immediately put on her "pretty dress"and her headband, necklace and shoes from Santa.  And Lauren started playing with her Snoopy and Peanuts figurines.  When Mum Mum came upstairs, Alison said "I'm a princess!"  and as soon as she found Lauren's Ariel shoes, she said "These are better" and put those on instead.  We opened some presents, then took a break for breakfast and then opened more gifts.  I think Alison changed her dress about 4 times because she kept getting more pretty dresses!  The most exciting gift was the last one...we surprised mom with an iPad.  She was shocked!   It was so special to have Mum Mum, Blair and David here to celebrate with us!

We had a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, corn pudding, salad and candy apple pie for dessert!  YUMMY!!

The first night of the girls sharing a room was Christmas night, but I will save all those fun details for a separate post....

Mum Mum left on Tuesday and Blair and David left early Wednesday morning.  We had such a wonderful Christmas!