campin' out by the tree

christmas movies, warm blankies, pretty tree, lots of treats, and nothing but the christmas lights...this is fun!

santa

tonight we visited santa at the library and filled our library bag with lots of christmas stories. abram had no desire to be close to santa and resisted any leaning of my body towards him. he did say, "thank you santa" on the way out after he got a candy cane though :)

the polar express

wow...this was amazing! we traveled to the white water valley train station in connersville where the polar express was brought to life!! we were served hot chocolate by a cook dressed like the ones in the movie, although he didn't sing and dance :) the conductor came around and punched the kids' golden tickets. we rode all the way to the north pole where santa boarded the train and sat with each and every child! he gave them each the "first gift of christmas...a silver bell from santa's sleigh". the night was perfect for this because it had snowed all day and continued to snow lightly the entire time. the boys were in heaven and i must say, it was a truly magical night for all!!

they were very excited about their tickets!


"hot, hot, ya we got it..."


eli and caleb were not shy at all with santa!

abram, on the otherhand, would not even look in santa's direction!

the bells were a hit also...very loud, but very fun and so special.

the boys with some of their cousins in front of the big diesel engine.

retro

wish i had a baby girl to share this SWEET christmas dress AND hat with!! seriously though, without the distraction of the creepy santa in a dirty costume and my awesome outfit, does this not look just like abram?!!

"look, mom!!"

"it's snow!!" he had to get on a chair to try to get closer to it :)

christmas cookie time

we made the dough in the morning, then enjoyed the cookies after bathtime tonight...YUMMY!! these are one of my very favorites...sour cream cookies that are thick, but light and fluffy, almost cake-like, with cream cheese icing :)

my tree decorators

we only do "meaningful" ornaments on our tree...no pretty bulbs, tinsel, etc. boring, i know. but sometimes simple is better, especially when 3 little boys are involved. i think it looks fabulous :)