Christmas Eve!!!!!

The Santa cookies are baked & decorated. The boys are in their jammies. All ready for Santa!

Oh, and let's not forget the Reindeer!!! -Throwing out the reindeer food that Jonah made at school!

Oooo, Santa is in for a treat! Yummy.

One Word: YUM.

Aren't these pretzel wreaths SOO cute?! I cannot take credit for them - my Pampered Chef friend showed them to me. They were a big hit this year!

Reese's peanut butter cup cookies! (in a mini-muffin pan)

Coconut Cranberry Chews. THESE are awesome. My mom's recipe.

I will happily share these recipes if anyone is interested! :)

Deck the Halls!!!

Our Christmas wreath (kinda hard to see w/ a black door) & a candle in the window.

Our cute lil' house lit up w/ a candle in each window. Apparently this is a New England holiday tradition ... symbolizing the warmth & security of the family hearth, as well as loyalty to family members & loved ones not present in the home. (kind of along the lines of , "We'll leave a light on for ya!") And in Colonial America a candle in the window was used to honor dignitaries, announce births & just plain celebrate. Whatever the history, I've loved the idea from the first time I saw it, many Christmases ago at the beginning of my stint in New England. I've always wanted to duplicate it in my own home. So... :)

My only wish is that our home had a fireplace. But in its absence, the staircase will have to suffice as the home of our Christmas Stockings.

And - the true star of the show - O' Christmas Tree!!
The tree was put up the weekend after Thanksgiving this year. We have never put it up that early before. Perhaps it's the new house but I really loved having it up for so long. Christmas seems to come & go so quickly each year. It's been nice to see the tree up early.
However, it might be tough on the boys. Since putting it up, they asked each morning for about a week, "Is today Christmas morning?" But once December rolled around & we got our Christmas count-down calendar up & running, that helped!

Look at those Big Brown EYES

Wow. I took this pic to showcase Jonah's missing teeth. But what struck me most about it is his striking brown eyes. Just like his dad. SO cute!

But onto the purpose of this post, Jonah can now officially sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

This was a few days before Christmas. Jared had been trying for days, maybe even weeks, to wiggle these 2 teeth free. Jonah took care of that himself when he tripped going up the stairs & knocked out his teeth! He was OK, thankfully, but I think it caught him by a great surprise!
He was sent upstairs to get some clothes. We heard a clang on the stairs, followed by complete silence. That doesn't happen too often in our house so Jared went to the stairs to check it out. Jonah was laying on the stairs, staring at his tooth in his hand. Jared asked if he was OK, & Jonah said, "I fell & knocked out my tooth!" Then Jared noticed another tooth on the step in front on Jonah. So Jared replied, "It was more than one tooth, Champ!" So the teethe were retrieved & clean-up commenced. Jonah was a little stunned but quickly realized that there was more excitement to be had ... the anticipation of The Tooth Fairy!!

It only makes me realize that my babies are growing up. I wish I could freeze time some days...

Go Big or Go Home!

Merrik & I ended up at Old Sturbridge Village recently. Our original destination was the library, but we found it closed - what?! So we wandered to our next favorite place. Imagine our disappointment when we found that OSV was actually closed as well, opening later in the day for their Christmas By Candlelight program. BUT their large gift stop was open so we took the opportunity to browse & stumbled into this little surprise! Staff had just finished assembling this beautiful house. It even has fruit roll-ups as the stain-glassed windows! How cool!

And M must've thought it was cool too because he usually runs when I pull out the camera! But he allowed me to get these two great shots. :)

Now THAT'S how you do a gingerbread house!

Gingerbread House - it must be Christmas Time!

One of our early December traditions...

I neglected to get a photo of the finished product, which by now, has a large percentage of the candies taken off. But you get the idea. The boys love this project. This was the 1st year that I let the boys do all of the decorating themselves - with the exception of the frosting, which surely would've ended up more in their mouths & less on the house. Maybe next year they can have full control. Maybe. Or maybe next year I'll get really creative & make my own gingerbread & they can each create their own! I like that idea... stay tuned for next year's gingerbread houses! :)

My Handsome Preschooler!

4 & 1/2 year old Merrik - preschool picture day. Isn't he a cutie?!? :)

LOVE this little boy's laughter & smiles!!

And of course wherever there's a camera, there will be Jonah, also ... hammin' it up!

I came to realize that I always take my own photos of the boys on their school picture day. Mostly so that I have a cute one of them, all dressed up, on my camera to play with that very day. SO why do I still order school pictures that don't get to me until weeks later?!? THAT is the question. Perhaps that will end very soon. Hmm...