Merry and Bright

Christmas with 3 1/2 year olds? It's pretty awesome.This was the first year that Charlie and Lily really "got" Christmas, so all the festivities were a lot of fun. And of course,  Santa (and the entire family!) was very good to them!

Listening to the letter that Santa left for them.

Joe made the shirts with the kids Christmas Eve while I was at work. Aren't the cute?

Lily hoarded all her gifts in her new shopping cart.

Yay, Christmas!

For months Charlie asked for a police car for Christmas. And he got one! Too bad he hardly ever plays with it now.

For Christmas morning breakfast I whipped up some reindeer pancakes, and then we made monkey bread for a morning snack later. Charlie and Lily loved making the bread, but for some inexplicable reason didn't like it. Biscuits, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon - how could you NOT like that?!?

MomMom and PopPop came over late in the morning with some great gifts, then we headed to Nana's for, you guessed it, more gifts! Cousin Adam helped with all the opening, and showed Charlie and Lily how to use their new gear set.

Uncle Aaron brought over his childhood train set to show the kids, which was a big hit.

And speaking of Uncle Aaron, he'll soon officially be Charlie and Lily's uncle - he and my sister Jill got engaged on Christmas Eve!! Jill waited until Christmas Day and let the kids announce it - she took them aside and instructed them to go tell the family, "Aunt Jill and Uncle Aaron are getting married!" Lily was super excited to make the announcement and bolted down the stairs screaming it out before Charlie had even made it into the room.

The best family picture we managed all day.

After Nana's we went to our final celebration - Christmas dinner at Uncle John and Aunt Bec's. With more presents! Uncle John helped Charlie with his remote control dump truck.

And gave Lily this charming book, after the success of the Farts in the Wild book he gave her last month. Sigh.

The photo calendars of Charlie and Lily that I made were a big hit, and Lily was happy to show it off to MomMom Carol and Aunt Rhea.

The night ended with some cake pops for dessert and a cuddle with Lilly the Dog. Lily the Person LOVES animals.

And finally, some random pictures from the holidays. Christmas Eve was spent at Aunt Linda's and Uncle Mike's. This is always my favorite holiday celebration - it's always fun. Lily bonded with Uncle John and cousins Mike and Matt.

And stuff like this happened.

 And this happened too. Yes, my kids are wearing mustaches.

 Girl bonding.

We left cookies for Santa, of course. But Charlie thought that giving his cookie a ride on his toy tractor was a better idea than just leaving it on a plate.

Christmas cuddles with MomMom.

Santa!

And finally, the gift that Charlie and Lily made for me, with a little help from Daddy. Aren't they adorable?

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a happy and healthy new year!