Christmas Kick-Off

I love Christmas time and all the fun activities that go along with it, part of the reason that no blogging gets done for about 6 weeks!

This season began with singing performances by both Connor and Emma Kate's classes.

Connor's 2nd grade put on a really cute performance which included both Christmas and patriotic songs.

And how convenient that the two were on the same day! Jeff took the day off work and I rearranged my work schedule so that we could attend Connor's, go to breakfast ALONE, then head to Emma's pre-school for her performance.

Here's Emmy and her teacher, Mrs. Valentine.

(Emmy is in the Heart class...how cute is that?!)

Nana and Papa also came to Emmy's performance.

Emma Kate loves to sing and dance.

But we found that she does not love to ice skate!

Over Thanksgiving break The Kirby's invited us to join them in W.C. for some ice skating "fun."

Her face pretty much looked like this the whole time...

But she put forth a good effort. And even though she'd want to get off the ice, as soon as she did, she wanted back on.

Connor, however loved it!

He fell a lot...but he didn't care.

The day after Thanksgiving we went in search of our Christmas tree.

It kills me to spend so much money on a tree every year but it's tradition.

And I love the smell of a fresh tree in our house.

Our traditional tree farm has both pre-cut trees and cut-your own.

We always grab a saw and cart and go hiking around looking for a tree to cut down, only to end up back down in the pre-cut area. They always look so much better! It's a standing joke in our family but this year we meant business and headed straight for the pre-cut trees, took a couple pictures, and were out in 20 minutes!

Jeff always makes fun of me for making sure our outfits somewhat coordinate for a family photo at the tree farm. Hey, you never know when you're gonna get the perfect shot for your Christmas cards!

Am I right? Or am I right?!

Thanks to Dom, who drives separately in his truck, we get to throw the tree in the pickup and head home instead of trying to tie it to the top of the minivan.

Thanksgiving weekend we also decorated gingerbread houses at Ma's house.

Jeff's mom started the gingerbread house tradition several years ago.

She buys and builds the houses ahead of time.

We all bring what's left over from our Halloween candy stash, as well as other yummy treats and let the decorating commence!

Between Ma, Aunt Becki, the cousins, and us, we have a total of 8 houses.

It's a whole neighborhood!

 

 

I love that even Dom still gets into it! The other boys LOVE to see, and copy some of his ideas.

I didn't get a picture of mine this year:(

 

When we get home the houses go up on top of our kitchen cabinets.

Way away from the dogs!

And Dom has learned he can't have too tall of a chimney, or it won't fit up there!

 

Yay! Christmas is in full force around here!