Holidays

How we celebrated the holidays, via photo storyboard.

We put a lot of thought (read: some thought) into what traditions we wanted for our family with regards to the holidays. They make for fun memories and Matthew, being over the age of three, may remember some of these days.

First on the calendar was decorating the Christmas tree. We added eggnog and the making of Christmas tree cookies to make it an afternoon full of Christmas fun. We enjoyed our treats while watching Charlie Brown Christmas.

The next day, our family participated in the lighting of the advent candles at church. We were dressed up and the tree was done, so the opportunity for pictures was seized, because well, most of the time our kids don't wear pants. 

Mike made ornaments out of shrinky dinks with the kids. Surprised it's IU?!?!

The kids loved Chanukah. They were mesmerized by the "birthday" candles and tried to blow them out. Every. Night. Matthew began to sing the song after a few nights of hearing it.

The kids got Christmas pajamas this year, a new tradition to get into the fun of the season. We thought it made sense to wear them for the first time while lighting the candles.  

On the first night of Chanukah we enjoyed delicious box-mix potato pancakes, I mean latkes.  On the last night, Matthew and I ventured into making sufganiyot.  It was a failure.  Not on Matthew's part of course.  But when frying these jelly-filled donuts, I browned the outsides while leaving the insides completely uncooked.  Nothing I could do to fix that.  Except buy some.  

Mike's family has had the tradition of taking a kids only picture with the candles on the last night of Chanukah. Since that's not a good idea yet, this will do: 

Matthew is shockingly good at seeing packages and not opening them before asking who it's for and if he can open it himself and when to do so. Welp, not this time. There was a big, fun looking package at our door. I left to get something from the car and boom present was opened. Great-Grandma Nell and Papa Gil got the kids a piano mat which was an instant hit!

Mike has been encouraging me to buy Jello (I don't know, something about his job) and so we made Christmas Jigglers. I have to admit, I had been hesitant since they don't eat Jello, but they not only loved tasting the powder, but on Christmas Eve they recognized that they had made them and each ate one.

When you tell your kids to hold hands in front of the Christmas tree for a picture on Christmas Eve:

The girls, including Floppy.  Of course.

Presents that night were a hit!  And now, Thea insists that her dolls just be undressed at all times.  She gets real upset when Matthew wants them to put a dress on.  It makes sense.  Her favorite outfit for herself is just a diaper.  She's really just into relaxed comfort.

Matthew loved playing with Joey, but it's Thea who most days is asking to see and play with Joey.

Mike's first experience of waking up to Christmas morning. He was genuinely really excited for it and it did not disappoint. The Elsa doll from Frozen, however, was.