Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with our little family, Lisa and her girls, and Ryan Miller.  We did our usual things- starting with a nice Christmas Eve dinner, reenacting the nativity, having a talent show, and singing Christmas carols by candlelight.  We ended by opening the traditional Christmas Eve pajamas and off to bed the kids went!  Once they were in bed, the adults brought out the last of the gifts, and we watched a Christmas movie and hung out.  It was such a great night! (Sorry in advance for all of the terribly-lit pictures, but I'm not going through to try and edit them all).

 Showing the cousins our new train this year!

This may seem like three of the same pictures, but I love all of their laughing faces.

Talent show: Claire sang "Up On the Housetop" but when she chickened out, we switched to "Jingle Bells" so she just had to shake the bells, but she refused to do that as well.  Lucy recited the first Article of Faith perfectly, and then also wanted to sing "Up On the Housetop"!  I played a Christmas song on the piano, and Ryan made a really nice family video to show.

Frozen pajamas! I picked out some other really cute pajamas but I knew the girls wouldn't end up wearing them because they refuse to wear anything but princess dresses. So, I returned them for these winners!  They loved the slippers, too!

 True to his word, Santa brought Lucy chapstick, and Claire a treat, but he also brought this fun jeep that the girls LOVED!  Such a fun surprise when they only asked for such small things!

Cocoa the Elf

We got an Elf on the Shelf last year but since Lucy was too little to give it a name, we waited to name it until this year.  The name they chose was Cocoa.  We didn't guide or prompt that at all, but I feel like it was a very fitting name for a Christmas Elf.  I actually think Lucy got it from a Mickey Mouse episode because there was a Cocoa the Monkey on an episode and she always walked around talking about Cocoa.  So, there we have it.  Cocoa the Elf!  Our little Cocoa was up to some mischeviousness this year!  Here's just a few that I remembered to take pictures.

Cocoa toilet papered our living room...

 ...and snuck into our chocolate stash and got it all over her face...

 ...and cut out paper snowflakes that she hung from the ceiling...

 ...and wrote a Christmas message to the girls out of toothpaste on their bathroom mirror!

The girls LOVED running downstairs every morning and finding Cocoa and seeing what she got into.  After finding her and laughing, they would always say either "Stinkin' Cocoa!" or "Silly Cocoa!" haha.

Gingerbread houses

Making gingerbread houses has become yet another little tradition with our family.  We don't go fancy (yet)- because the girls are too young to appreciate the hard work that goes into that.  But the cheap Wal-Mart kits are right up our alley for now!  And of course, just as much candy makes it into their mouths as it does on the gingerbread house. :)

 I love this picture of their candy-filled chipmunk cheeks.

Scioto Mile at Christmas

We may look bundled up in these pictures, but it was actually a very warm December night.  We decided to go check out the lights at the Scioto mile because we love that place and it had recently been re-done and we hadn't seen it yet.  It was beautiful, the lights were magical, and the Christmas music playing the whole time made it all so cheerful. 

2nd Annual Christmas Ornament Dinner

This was our second annual Christmas ornament dinner.  The first Sunday of December, we have a nice dinner and each kid gets open an ornament that had something to do with them that year.  We love the ornament tradition that so many people do, but when you open it on Christmas Day, you don't have much time to enjoy it.  This way, we get most of the Christmas season to see the new ornament hanging up.  This year, Lucy got a pink backpack because she started preschool and loves it, not to mention her backpack is that same color pink.  Claire got a glittery purse, because she loves purses and can't go anywhere without one.  Ryan and I don't have a tradition of getting each other ornaments, but I saw a moose mug ornament from the Christmas Vacation movie and since it is SO a Ryan/Martin thing, I had to do it.  Finally, for the whole family, we got a special 2015 Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party ornament from Disney World that they only sell at that party.  

Visiting Santa 2015

This was the first year Lucy was totally okay with Santa.  She went right over and sat on his lap.  Claire, on the other hand, was all about him too until it was our turn and then she melted down.  She didn't even like being next to him from the safety of my lap!  Lucy asked Santa for chapstick, and Claire asked for a treat.  Easy peasy requests for Santa this year!