Christmas Day!!!

So Much Fun!!

 

We were incredibly blessed and our kids 

were spoiled rotten and all the fun and 

excitement made us all rediculously tired!! 

Thank goodness for Christmas specials on Netflix!

Christmas Eve is Finally here!

Christmas Eve!

What a fun day we have around 

here for Christmas Eve.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions we have is 

Christmas Eve Supper.

I love it because I am usually a little stressed 

trying to finish something 

(this year it was pajamas). 

My loving husband suggested last year 

that we simplify Christmas eve and have 

our big supper on Christmas day.  

I LOVE THIS.  

Plus the kids don't sit that well 

on Christmas Eve! 

Its too Exciting!

So We get a FUN supper of cheese, 

pickles, sausage and crackers.

The kids love it and can be wiggly and crazy excited!

We can all enjoy the buildup.

After supper we all gather around the 

Christmas tree and open fresh 

new jammies!!

 

 We also always open a family gift.

This year was Jenga!!

 

 It was a huge hit and everyone loved the loud  

CRASH it made on the table!!

Ms. A especially loved building towers and 

seeing just how tall they could get!

 

 

We also tried to Skype with some family.

 

Since there were some complications 

we ended up watching Rudolph 

and eating popcorn!

So much excitement!

Even the Adults went to bed a little early!

Why we Only Give our Kids 1 Gift Each Chrstmas!

Just like last year we had a great plan.

Just one gift each from us.

Stockings come from Santa and there is always 

a little toy of some kind in there as well, 

but only one gift from us parents.  

We decided this last year because

Christmas math at our house is exponential.

Here's the math per kid!

1 parent gift + 1 Santa gift = 2

2 + 5 gifts from grandparents =7

(this number is high due to 

great grandparents who love 

our kids so unconditionally!)

7 + 5 uncle/auntie gifts = 12

12 + 2 cousin gifts = 14

14 + 3 sibling gifts = 17

17 + Pj's and Dresses/ties = 19

19 gifts each X 4 kids = 76

 76 is a TON!

That's not counting nice 

extras that sometimes happen.

Like Work Parties,  for the past two years 

Shane's company has held a Christmas party 

where Santa comes and each kid gets a gift.  

(not just a candy cane!)

Add in gifts that we share, like sleds, 

family games, etc.

And we have also been benefactors of some 

great anonymous drops.  

Which have included Amazing gifts for our kids!

Before we know what's happening our house is 

overflowing with new awesome stuff.

 (not just for kids either - Shane and I also feel 

blessed and spoiled every year!)

So despite our intentions our Tree always looks 

like this on Christmas Eve!

It is AMAZING!
 haha its like a big hug for the tree - with no escape!

We always feel so blessed and our tree
can hardly contain all the gifts!

Our hearts are always full, and we hope
the other trees that we contribute to also
feel cluttered and hugged!

Decorating the Christmas tree, a right of passage!

 One of my favorite memories when I was little was

decorating the tree with my siblings.

I remember boxes of ornaments and lights 

and treats being pulled out.

I also remember all the rights of passage that were 

connected to tree decorating.

The first year of being big enough to hang 

glass ornaments, or being given an important task 

like putting on the lights, 

or helping to screw the base of the tree straight.

Being the baby of my family I always loved 

to be the one to plug in our star.

So I try and keep up with tradition and 

make tree decorating a big deal.

The kids were Very Very eager to help 

and of course Ms. A couldn't stand 

being height restricted, and got herself a stool 

so she could reach almost to the top of our tree.

All month Ms. V was pulling ornaments off 

and shaking the dangly beads.  

I'm super glad that we have a good vacuum and that 

the tree didn't fall over even once this year!

December is FULL of Christmas!

December is usually a great month at our house 

full of traditions and excitement, 

but this year 

Christmas Literally Lasted the 

whole month of December.  

We started the month with a tree hunting party hosted 

by the Youth of our Ward. 

 

There was sledding, hot chocolate, bonfires, hotdogs, 

marshmallows, and the kids were having so much fun!! 

They didn't even want to go with Shane to get the tree.  

Too much fun was happening!

  

The First Sunday in December I FORCE my children 

to wear their new Chirstmas dresses.  

I Loved sewing these dresses!

Thank's Auntie Deanna for the wonderful Fabric!! 

I always feel bad for Mr. T so I made him a tie this year.

 

Then I visited my mom and she surprised me by 

announcing that they were waiting for us to get all the 

Christmas decorations out.  

My kids loved spending time with aunties singing funny 

Christmas songs and decorating the tree.  

Ms. V was very curious and excited about everything.

 Closer to Christmas we had a HUGE baking day!
 

My kids love this tradition, 

we were sad to miss the fun of being at 

Grandma Cathy's for gingerbread men or at 

Grandma Websters to Ice Mounds of sugar cookies!!

We also had a visit from my mom and sister, 

who brought us all some wonderful surprises! 

 New Christmas PJ's and Necklases for the girls!

Mr. T was bombarded with fun McQueen Race Car gifts. 

Everyone loved taking turns being pushed by grandma in the big box!! 

 Shane's mom also came and brought a Huge Box 

of gifts from everyone!! 

We felt so blessed!

The week before Christmas our ward also had our 

Annual Christmas party.

It was lots of fun!!

And to think this was only the beginning!

November Birthdays

So Mr. T had a pretty chill birthday! 

 We made dragon noise makers and ate green dragon cupcakes, 

and the house filled rather quickly with new cars!!

We had some friends over that we haven't seen in a LONG time, 

they are pretty much awesome and she just happens to be a 

very talented photographer.  

Remember this post?

http://sjhudsonshappyhouse.blogspot.ca/2015/09/family-pictures.html

Yep you should still go check her out!

http://tarynwhittonphotography.blogspot.ca/

Emily on the other hand had a rock'n peacock party!! 

It was amazing with games and crafts and dress up 

and a ton of other fun!

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

She was super spoiled and loved being the center of all the fun!

Shane was gone for work so I was Super Appreciative 

of a few friends who chose to stay and 

help wrangle all this girly frilly fun!

Halloween Fun!

 Ok So Halloween at our house I 

try to keep REALLY FUN! 

I admit that it bothers me just a bit that the 

whole world seems so 

obsessed with zombies and the un-dead.   

I guess I'm just a little through with the idea of people 

coming back from the dead to eat my brains and 

make me join them in their quest for 

zombie domination . . . 

but that's probably a blog post for another day!

One of my favorite parts about Halloween is the decorating.

I love pumpkins!! 

This year I splurged on a ton of Halloween stickers 

and the kids went wild decorating foam pumpkins 

and cards and anything else I would let them decorate!

The pumpkins ended up all over the house on 

the walls and doors and windows!

We also carved the pumpkins we picked from

 the patch on vacation!  

It was a lot of fun, for some of us it was 

more serious business than for others.

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of days before Halloween our ward held a 

Halloween Carnival for the primary, the girls were 

super excited and Ms. E even invited a fun friend 

to come meet us there - which she loved.

So we all piled into the van and even 

Dad Got dressed up for the fun!

Halloween day Mr. T and Ms. V had an amazing time 

playing with some new toys that I rotated.  

She pretty much just ate up the attention 

that he was giving her!

The Night of All night Finally Arrives!! 

Ms. E was a peacock princess and I admit I made 

that Amazing tutu. It weighed like 15 lbs. 

but she loved every little bit and it made her feel so special!

Ms. A decided to be a mixed up superhero - I think she was

 having a little bit of an Identity Crisis!!

HaHa a little bit of super girl a dash of wonder woman 

and an interesting new mask.  

She was very excited to get to wear it to school too!!

Ms. V dressed up as a flower but that didn't last long at all!!

Pre Halloween I had also decided that Mr. T 

should be a fireman, 

and a friend of mine had brought this awesome 

fireman jacket to an item swap. 

I Snatched it up SUPER fast!! 

He wore it to school drop off for at least two weeks 

before Halloween. 

He loved it and wore it after Halloween 

whenever he could get away with it!!

 They just went around the circle with friends 

but man there was a ton of candy!

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to do this 

but in our house we share the candy - all of it.  

I also go through on Halloween night and toss all the candy 

I just don't want in my house - for example

 a gazillion packs of Double Bubble.  

(Gum is not common around here!)

It is fun and sharing helps the kids

 stay grounded and grateful.  

(I feel anyway!)

After trick or treating we watched Hotel Transylvania 

on the lawn with some neighborhood friends and 

drank hot chocolate!  

It was amazing and the kids can't wait till next year!!