What would Christmas be without our Christmas Eve traditions....boring.
One of my traditions is decorating Christmas cookies and getting them ready for Santa. This year we all got involved to include Pat and Sean. I think they were doing it more for a competition, but nonetheless they did it. The boys and I made the dough, cut the cookies and baked them the day before so they were nice and ready to decorate the next day. The good part is that it gave me a rest since the whole baking the cookies takes awhile and since I was recovering from knee surgery I couldn't' stand for long periods of time.
Austin did really well this year by keeping the shakers out of the icing on his cookies. He likes a lot of sprinkles and decorations on his where Colby is a little more simple. Just a few work for him.
As, always we have fun no matter what we are doing and this year was no different.
Sean spent about 20 minutes on his one cookie and the boys did about 5 during the same amount of time. I think he was trying to beat his Dad.
Our final products. I would say Pat probably won but only because I was helping the boys more than doing my own.
Colby's for Santa is the upside down Gingerbread man at the bottom but then he changed to the striped Candy Can in the middle with the swirl. Sean's is the white snowman on the bottom right that took him 20 minutes. And Austin's is the skinny snowman at the top center with green eyes and buttons!
One of my traditions is decorating Christmas cookies and getting them ready for Santa. This year we all got involved to include Pat and Sean. I think they were doing it more for a competition, but nonetheless they did it. The boys and I made the dough, cut the cookies and baked them the day before so they were nice and ready to decorate the next day. The good part is that it gave me a rest since the whole baking the cookies takes awhile and since I was recovering from knee surgery I couldn't' stand for long periods of time.
Austin did really well this year by keeping the shakers out of the icing on his cookies. He likes a lot of sprinkles and decorations on his where Colby is a little more simple. Just a few work for him.
As, always we have fun no matter what we are doing and this year was no different.
Sean spent about 20 minutes on his one cookie and the boys did about 5 during the same amount of time. I think he was trying to beat his Dad.
Our final products. I would say Pat probably won but only because I was helping the boys more than doing my own.
Colby's for Santa is the upside down Gingerbread man at the bottom but then he changed to the striped Candy Can in the middle with the swirl. Sean's is the white snowman on the bottom right that took him 20 minutes. And Austin's is the skinny snowman at the top center with green eyes and buttons!Then we moved on to another tradition. We all went to Church for our Christmas Eve service which is always very special. There was a full church but we were able to get seats close to the front so the boys could see as well. After church we swung through Sonic for our favorite sodas we headed home and put our new PJ's on.
Pat always reads the story from the Bible and Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was amazing how much the boys learned this year. They would tell everyone that it Jesus' birthday and that he was born in a manger with animals around. They would say that his mom is Mary and his dad is Joesph. It makes me proud to see them learn the real meaning of holidays and yet still enjoy the fun side as well.
As a nice surprise and since they were so good listening on Christmas Eve at home and Church they were allowed to open on Christmas gift and they both chose the gifts from Matthew and Lauren. Personally I loved their gifts more than they did....well at least the blankets.
The funny part is I have a gray Razorback blanket that Ann-Marie gave me before the boys were born. Colby knows that is my favorite blanket and any time I sit down on the couch he goes and gets it for me. Well his blanket is black and I asked him one day if I could use the black blanket and his response was "no Mom, you have your own so you need to use the gray one and leave my alone".
Pat always reads the story from the Bible and Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was amazing how much the boys learned this year. They would tell everyone that it Jesus' birthday and that he was born in a manger with animals around. They would say that his mom is Mary and his dad is Joesph. It makes me proud to see them learn the real meaning of holidays and yet still enjoy the fun side as well.
As a nice surprise and since they were so good listening on Christmas Eve at home and Church they were allowed to open on Christmas gift and they both chose the gifts from Matthew and Lauren. Personally I loved their gifts more than they did....well at least the blankets.
The funny part is I have a gray Razorback blanket that Ann-Marie gave me before the boys were born. Colby knows that is my favorite blanket and any time I sit down on the couch he goes and gets it for me. Well his blanket is black and I asked him one day if I could use the black blanket and his response was "no Mom, you have your own so you need to use the gray one and leave my alone".The cookies and milk are ready and everyone in their new PJs and ready for a good nights sleep and a very busy day on Christmas Day.
Colby was telling Santa he wanted a pillow pet and camera.
The boys were amazed at how much they could see from the top of the arch and how high up we were. It had been a long time since I had been to St Louis but since Nate is from that area his parents also got to have dinner with all of us. It's always nice to be sent to an area where we have family since we don't get to visit very often.
We did manage to catch a short break in the weather and headed out to knock on some doors. After the boys had gotten more than enough candy we stopped by friends' house for some drinks and more candy for the boys.
I have come to the conclusion that I will never have fairies, princesses, queens, or cute girly costumes in my home, therefore I promise Austin and Colby to always ensure they are the coolest and toughest in costume. I love my boys and being a mom of all boys is a challenge at times but I wouldn't change it for the world. I love sticks, rocks, bugs (ok maybe not bugs) trucks and sports and I love my boys. Thank you God for blessing me with 3 amazing sons. I know will never give me more than I can handle, even if it is short notice.
