Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, per usual, was spent at GaGa's.  Eating good food and playing with cousins.

We were super glad to have Gramma Pat join us this year.  Then back to our house to get everything ready there...reindeer food set out - CHECK!

Cookies and milk for Santa - CHECK!

A few minutes of games (electronic of course) with Gramma before bed - CHECK!

Decorating the Tree

The tree was placed in the usual spot.  Because we have a puppy and because it was so close to Christmas, we decided to only put the lights, a few ornaments (because Camden insisted), and the star.

Even with this plan, Camden had to take a break to "write" in the frosty front window.

She stood on a chair and Dad held her shirt to help her balance as she put the star on top.

The lights and tree topper were new purchases after Christmas last year and we love them!

We really love this tree. It is so beautiful and will hopefully be in our yard for years to come.

Picking Our Tree

We went to our "usual" Christmas tree farm to get our tree this year. 

But instead of cutting our own, we decided to pick a living or balled tree so that we could plant it in our yard after Christmas.

We were choosing between a White Spruce and Norwegian Pine.

Kevin and I narrowed it down to a few options and let Camden decide.  She declared the little guy behind her the winner!

Then off to pay in the little Christmas shed and a final picture next to a cute tree near our truck.  We are all excited to get it home and decorate.  We got little beauty only 4 days before Christmas!

O Christmas Tree

Camden has been making lots of crafts this week at school.  It seems like there is nothing but a week-long party going on!  I don't have a problem with that...it's first grade!

Her first project home was a Christmas tree made from an sugar ice cream cone with lots of green frosting and candy ornaments.  She ate most of the candy except the small red circles which she discovered were Red Hots, which, she discovered, she does not like!

 

December Birthdays

GaGa and Grandpa had their annual prime rib dinner for Kevin and my birthdays.  Aunt Carole and Uncle Ric came down to help celebrate.  Camden liked helping GaGa get dinner ready - she liked the mashed potatoes beaters clean!

After dinner we played 6-handed bid Euchre and enjoyed the chocolate covered strawberries that Uncle Ric made for us.

After the guys won the first round, we had cake and ice cream. Aunt Carole made the camo cake per Camden's request.

 (those poor chapped lips!)

It was a perfect night of fun!

Living Nativity

One of our annual Christmas traditions is to go to Browns Valley Christian Church's Living Nativity.  It only takes about 10 minutes to drive through, but it's a good visual reminder of the life of Christ.  Camden loves the animals and seeing kids in each scene.

Olaf