Christmas Day

The kids woke up to their bedroom doors being covered with crepe paper and a note from our elf Jack.  The note said "Good-bye and see you next year.  Do not open, but call for your mom and dad".

The girls thought it was great....

but Seth didn't care for being "Locked Up" too much

and was quite happy when we gave him the okay to tear through.  (on a side note, I can't wait for January, when I plan on repainting the inside of our house.   Just check out those handprints! ugh.)

The kids came out into the living room to find a note from Santa Claus that took them on a scavenger hunt or as Elsie calls it a Mystery.

The notes took them to various places in the house, including the freezer,

the pantry,

and eventually outside to a half finished trampoline.  Apparently, Santa got cold and tired and left the instructions for us parents to put it together. lol

Then it was time to open our stockings and gifts from each other.  This year Kya and Seth bought each of us gifts and it was fun seeing the excitement on their faces as we opened them and to see how much thought they put into each gift.  I loved that they pay attention to our likes.

Kya knows that Seth likes football, so she bought him a football.  Seth knows how much his Daddy likes to play his guitar, so he bought him a bracelet with a guitar on it.  Such thoughtfulness!

Elsie's class didn't participate in the school's holiday store, but she really wanted to give her mommy something special.......so.......

she had her Daddy wrap her up for me to open.  I believe I got the best present ever......a little Elsie girl!!!

And that was the last picture taken of the day.  No picture of them or us in our Christmas clothes.  Bummer, but we have our memories.  After we opened gifts, the kids played with them for a short bit and then it was time to get showered/dressed and head on down to my parents house to celebrate the day with 40 other members of my Dad's side of the family.  Such fun to hang with all the cousins!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cantata

Our Christmas Cantata at church today was kicked off by our children singing three songs.  They sang Jesus Loves Me, Jingle Bells and Feliz Navidad and did a wonderful job.  Nothing better than hearing young voices sings about Jesus.

Elsie started off good, but then quickly became overwhelmed by stage fright.  By the end of the last song, she had her head buried behind Alex (the little girl in blue) and then came running to me crying.  Poor thing.

Knotts Berry Farm 2012

Knotts Berry Farm honors our Military, Fire & Police by allowing them and one guest to get into the park for free and six more for only $25 each during the month of December. Since Wayne works for school police, we decided to take advantage this year and go.  This was the 1st time the kids have been here and more than 15 years for Wayne & I.

Wayne and the kids in front of the Knotts sign.  The sun was bright! lol

The kids and I in front of the entrance of Camp Snoopy

One thing that impressed me was that their was a nativity at the front entrance.  I find this to be a bold move in today's society and it makes me like Knotts that much more!

Snoopy!

One of the first things we did was go watch the Wild West Stunt show.  In case you have never been to Knotts, most of the park is based on the old west, which is perfect for our family.

Hanging out with the actors of the stunt show.

Posing on an old train.  I should have read the paper more, but I do recall it said it came here in 1941.

A quick visit with Santa Claus

Finally it was time go on some rides!  Here is Seth & Daddy on the old steam train.

The girls were pretty excited......until........

...we got held up....

....by train robbers!!!  Luckily, they turned out to be friendly robbers, but Kya wasn't completely sure.

Wayne and the kids decided to ride the Big Rapids (not mom, because I did not want to get wet!), but when they got to the front of the line, they learned that Elsie was too short to ride.  Oh boy was she angry!  I almost got the perfect picture of all three of them, but the raft suddenly turned.  boo.

Seth was just tall enough to ride some the big roller coasters.  He and I went on the Pony Express together and he loved it.   Unfortunately, when he and daddy went on Ghostrider later, he did not like it as it went waay to high for his liking.

Elsie played on the pony express horse while we rode.

Since she was not able to ride the bigger rides, she got to choose the next ride of the day.  The ferris wheel, which was not mommy's favorite. lol

We stayed in camp snoopy for a while before heading over to the ice show, where Linus quoted Luke 2 and stated that Christmas is all about Jesus!!!  It was the perfect time of day for the kids to rest a bit.

When we came out of the ice show, the weather had cooled quite a bit so it was time to pull out our jackets. We rode a few more rides, took this traditional picture with the painted statues and then headed to a fast food joint for a late dinner before heading home.  

We had such a fun day that we almost bought annual passes, but with Elsie being too short for many rides, we decided to wait until next year.  If you are not from California and make it out someday, I suggest you put Knotts on your list of things to do.  It is fairly reasonable in price, usually not crowded and truly a fun family activity.

Secret Sister Reveal & Cookie Exchange

Last night I hosted a party for the women of my church. Many of the women participated in doing secret sister all year and last night they were finally able to reveal who they had been praying for and blessing with gifts all year. Since some women did not participate in the secret sister, we also did a cookie exchange so that all the women would be able to participate.

We started off the night with appetizers and hot cider, followed by a fun Christmas game.  Then I included a bit of business by explaining the bible study we will be doing and then it was time for the women to reveal themselves.  Many of the women tried to figure out who had them and it was fun to see their expressions when they learned it was someone completely different than they had thought.  Then after the reveal it was time to exchange cookies!  If you ever decide to throw a cookie exchange, be sure to tell your guest to bring an extra container to take cookies home in.  I was surprised at how many didn't think of that. lol

My house looks so festive.  I had hoped to line my entire walkway with candles in mason jars, but it started to rain, so I had to settle for just the portion of the stairs that were under the roof and on the porch.  I think it still turned out nice.

Our little drink station done up with all my Christmas mugs.  We had water, hot apple cider and pumpkin spiced coffee.  Perfect for a cold winter's night.

For my appetizer station, I needed a bigger table than my little desk.  Thankfully, Wayne had some sheets of plywood out in the garage that he was able to cut and put on top of the desk.  It was the perfect size to hold everything!

Some pictures of the women of my church.  I love these ladies and feel super blessed that God brought them into my life.  Not all the women were able to make it and they were surely missed.

My kitchen table held all the yummy cookies.  We almost didn't have enough room to fit them all, as more showed up after this picture was taken, but we made it work!

I love this woman!  She is such a source of encouragement to me.

Half of the group enjoying their food and conversations.

Kya's Christmas Performance

Kya had her Christmas program(or as the school's say now days, Winter Program) tonight and she did a wonderful job. She is in the 2nd grade and all 4 classes combined to sing Frosty The Snowman and A Winter Wonderland. I was afraid Kya wouldn't sing, but not only did she sing all the words, she did it with a big smile.

Here she is with the 2nd grade in the middle of the back row, standing next to her good friend Natalia.

Posing in front of the Christmas tree before leaving the house.  

Posing in front of the Christmas tree.

I really need to learn how to use my camera settings. I was trying to take a picture with the tree all aglow, without much luck. But I did get some cute pictures of my babies.