Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Sometimes it is so hard to be the photographer and the mother, and I struggled with that this year for Christmas. I missed many important shots like us in our Christmas outfits home from church along with countless others, but I really was in the moment this Christmas. It was a day full of memories many of which were unphotographed but nevertheless happened and will be forever imprinted in my memory of Christmas 2011. So without further adieu our Christmas . . .

This first photograph pretty much sums up the memory for me. My children are all at enchanting ages and really reveled in the Christmas season. Every thing was so magical to them. Every time Jacob saw Santa anywhere his face lit up and his eyes widened as he shouted "Santa, Santa." Below the oldest two were discussing how Santa actually comes down the chimney and staring into the fireplace to search for clues, answers, and see the magic.

Christmas Eve right before dinner

Our Christmas Eve dinner of appetizers. So easy and delicious!

We read the nativity story that Papa together years ago with my few additions of singing songs to tell the story. I thought of this after the fact but next year we are going to get out the little nativity and as the story is read/songs are sung we are going to move the pieces as well to help us tell the story. The we opened up our traditional Christmas Eve present of pajamas.

Eating our Christmas cookies after setting out our plate for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Benjamin had to count out nine carrots so that Santa could give one to each one.

Christmas morning at 7:15 a.m. and ready to see if Santa came

Jacob found Santa's plate of crumbs and decided he needed to eat the leftovers.

Opening presents. This was a favorite of Benjamin- a science kit.

We opened a few presents and then stopped for breakfast because everyone was hungry. We had cinnamon rolls, eggs, and great-grandma Ruth's "french chocolate" to warm our tummies.

Emma opened another present and was thrilled to be a REAL princess!

Emma loved her puppy in a purse!

I got what I have been requesting for years. A blurb book of the blog from the first year that we started it. Stephen was up in the middle of the night and made it for me. So fun to read over the entries from 2007.
Benjamin's favorite present by far was this remote control helicopter. It was a hit and dearly loved until it crashed four days later and broke. He's already asking for a replacement for his birthday.

We went to church and then came home to enjoy a few hours before heading off to Christmas dinner with family friends. It was so fun to relish in their hospitality and friendship as we truly felt we were with family. We are thankful for a day to enjoy one another and find Christmas magic even if there are very few pictures!

Merry Christmas!

Santa's Early Christmas Present

We woke up on Wednesday morning to find something strange. Our elf Jumpin' Jasper was sitting the on the fireplace with a present in his hands.
We opened it to find a letter inside from Santa.
Benjamin read the letter and discovered that Santa gave us an early Christmas present of going to Great Wolf Lodge to stay for one night!

We got our suitcases packed and headed to the Lodge, and once we arrived we found some very exciting things. The first was this life sized gingerbread house.
Then we headed to the magic shop to get a wand for Benjamin and a princess hat for Emma to do Magi Quest.
We found treasure!
Magi Quest kept us busy for awhile and then we changed in our suits and headed to the indoor 84 degree waterpark. I didn't take a single thing with me including the camera so no pictures of us swimming. We had a great time in the wave pool, the water slides, and the kiddie playground. After swimming we headed back to change for dinner at the Critter Grill. We had some surprisingly good food (our expectations were really low and pleasantly surprised with some above average food). After dinner we explored more of the hotel by accomplishing more quests with Magi Quest and then got into jammies and ready for a visit with Santa and the Storytime Bedtime show.


This was Jacob's face when he saw Santa. He got so excited and said "Santa." He is not so much a fan of getting closer though as you can see from the pictures.This one is my favorite. I love Santa's face looking at Jacob. Classic!
We thanked Santa for his early present, and he gave us the best advice ever about Christmas. He told the children that Christmas isn't about the presents, trees or even Santa. He told us that Christmas was about love. He said the to the children "Now I want you to always remember that. Christmas is about love." I had a little tear well in my eye as he spoke. My children listened in awe. What a wonderful gift of words Santa gave us as well.
After our Santa visit we had a few minutes for another quest and then down to storytime.
It was pretty crowded luckily Emma, Jacob, and I got there a few minutes early to get a seat.
We came home singing "There's nothing to be scared of here. Trust in Mother nature . . ." for those that have been and seen the show.

Then to our delight while we sang "Let it Snow" we began to see snow inside!



After the show, we headed over get some ice cream which Benjamin threw up as soon as we got to the room. Uh-oh!
We went to bed very late and the kids all slept very soundly thanks to our two loud and strategically placed sound machines that we brought despite all the running up and down the halls and slamming doors. Benjamin seemed to be feeling better in the morning. We got up early, headed to breakfast, and then straight to the waterpark when it opened at 9:00 a.m. It was so the right decision because no one was there early. We swam, did the big tube waterslides including the Howling Tornado for Benjamin and Dad, and played in the wave pool until 10:30. Then we needed to go pack up and get out of our room. You can see the water park behind us in the picture. It is the only one that I took because I didn't take anything to the pool with me, no camera, no purse, no phone, nothing. They have an ingenious system of wearing wristbands that is your room key and charge card within the hotel. I have never gone to the pool without a huge bag of things so this was so nice!
After showering and dressing for the day, Benjamin wanted to finish his quests so that he could be a Master Magi and defeat the dragon. At first we tried to all go together but soon realized that it was too much for the littlest two. So we took turns hanging out in the lobby and then Dad and Benjamin finally got to go defeat the dragon. Benjamin was very excited!
We were all sad to be leaving but so thankful for the chance to go. We have lots of holiday memories from our time together at Great Wolf Lodge. When I asked the kids Benjamin said that his favorite thing about our time was "Magi Quest because you get to do magic like making things talk." Emma said "the wave pool because it was so fun to splash in the water."
Our next stop was down to visit Andrew, Kelly, and Logan. We got to see their house and go out to a late lunch with them. After lunch Benjamin started to feel really sick again so instead of staying the night with them, we headed for home. Benjamin sat with a sick bag next to him the whole ride home which thankfully didn't get used. It was so fun to be together, see family (once again no picture with the Clarks Ugh!), and make memories!