Christmas Traditions

Over the past few months Brian and I have been discussing what traditions we want to start as a family. The most important goal being keeping Christ in CHRISTMAS because He after all is the reason for the season. We decided that Christmas Eve would be the day we celebrate Jesus' birthday. Some of the traditions are baking a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and have the kids decorate it, going to Church as a family, eating Chicken a la King and reading the true Christmas story before bed. So this year we did just that! Scroll down to the bottom for a cute video.

We used simple icing and sprinkles for the cake this year...

Brian did most of the icing... Addison watched intensely and stuck her finger in the cake when she could...

mmmm licking the spatula...

Daddy putting the sprinkles on the cake... Addison eating the ones that fell on the table...

Finished product with Addison reaching for the cake... see a common theme here? Needless to say Addison had a huge sugar rush after the cake was complete!

Family picture before going to Church and the last picture of me pregnant :)...

Brian reading Addison the Christmas Story...

Addison reading Brian the Christmas Story...

Video of Addison reading to Brian...

Next Christmas will be extra busy and fun celebrating our Christmas traditions as a family of 4, spending time with our families and celebrating McKenna's birthday.

Christmas with Family

With McKenna being due on Christmas Eve and all the busyness associated with that, our goal this Christmas season was to celebrate Christmas "early" with each of our families. We celebrated with Brian's family over the Thanksgiving and on Thursday night we celebrated with my family.. my dad, Vicki, Rachel, Shane, Ashton & Alex. Unfortunately John & Stephanie we not able to attend, they are busy in Waco finishing up the semester and getting ready for their wedding on December 31st. We initially had the dinner scheduled for December 11th, but we were all struck with the stomach plaque that week and had to postpone.

GG & Grandpa put up a fun, child friendly tree with shatterproof ornaments. Addison was in awe of the tree and kept gently touching the ornaments and said "pretty". Kind of makes me wish I put up a tree this year because she is a lot better with it than I thought she would be. Oh dwell, I will take advantage of the 50% off after Christmas sale and stock up on shatterproof ornaments for next year. The twins... Alex & Ashton or is it Ashton & Alex... I can never tell them apart unless I physically see them in person. I love their hats and outfits! Addison had fun opening gifts, she was blessed with a Violet doll (Brian loved it because it came with a USB cable and you can program it), a dancing & singing frog, doll, doll gear and much much more. GG gave the girls a voice recorded "The Very First Christmas" book, it is something the girls will treasure for years to come. GG personalized the book and Addison lights up every time the book says her name.

Here is Addison shaking with the frog...

Addison was also very interesting in the gifts Ashton & Alex got...

The fun really started when it came time to eat. Of course, the kids got to eat first. Here is everyone in the line-up getting their tummies full. It was great listening to all the different sound effects made to get the kids to open their mouth for food.

After the kids ate, then the adults sat down for a delicious meal of smoked ham, veggies, salad and potatoes. Dessert was yummy as well with apple pie and cup cakes. It was pure joy getting together with my family, next Christmas will be even more fun with all 4 Grandchildren, 12 months and up... they will be all over the place!

Photos With Santa

On Wednesday we went to the "Holiday Party" at Addison's school. We had fun hanging out with other parents and looking at all the artwork Addison completed over the last month. Santa was there, so we decided to take this opportunity to have the annual Santa photo. Since we did not get a good shot, I will give you the timeline of the 30 seconds she sat in his lap.

Checking Santa out... not too sure about him...

"Please hurry and take the picture and no I will not smile"

Getting distressed...Enough is ENOUGH!

Here is a picture of Addison with Santa from last year in Salado. I love the old fashioned look, too bad he was not in Salado this year. I am also amazed at how much Addison's hair has grown over the year.

3rd Annual Salado Stroll

On Saturday, we went with Tania, Kimball and Barbi to the Salado Stroll. This is the third year we have all gone and it is a fun tradition.

First stop is eating at the Stagecoach Inn. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. The food is great and the waitresses are unique. They recite the menu by memory and only say it once. It is a good thing the menu never changes and since we have done this for several years, we already know what we are going to eat. I will say this year we had the nicest waitress to date.

Here are Tania and Addison inside the restaurant, please note the delightful wall paper and matching curtains...

After we eat, we go strolling down main street, visiting all the shops. I love all the lights and decorations...

They have a lot of street food vendors and musicians...

Addison tried to get a random street musician to read her some books...

We took our first horse drawn carriage down main street. Brian was very concerned about smelling horse butt, so we sat in the back. Turns out the carriage is powered by a generator, and the fumes from that overpowered the horse smell, haha. The carriage ride was a lot of fun. Tania, Kimball, Maya and Barbi on the carriage ride...

Addison was exhausted but had so much fun! We look forward to next year when McKenna can join us!

Domain Christmas Tree Lighting

The Domain is one of my favorite places to be... I love the food, atmosphere, shops (even though it feels like forever since I have worn normal sized clothes) and Staci (my SIL) lives there. This year we decided to attend the annual Christmas tree lighting. Brian, Addison and I got there early so we could get a good parking spot. We hung out with Staci and walked around. Addison had a lot of fun riding on Brian's shoulders, she had the best view! When the time was near, we got a close spot near the tree and stayed there for over an hour waiting! The place was PACKED! They had a fun concert before the tree lighting and fireworks afterwards. Overall it was a good show. Addison enjoyed the fireworks as well.

I am really glad we went! Next year we plan on watching the fireworks from Staci's apartment.

Christmas Decorations

One of my favorite things about our new house is the mantel! I think I am more of a simple person when it comes to decorating and although I love "things" I don't have much displayed around the house. I knew the mantel would be a fun way to display my style! Tania, my best friend / decorator for fun decorated the mantel for my birthday. I love what she did. I don't really have a decorating bone in my body, so when it came time to decorate for Christmas, I went to Tania for some guidelines. She said do blue, green, gold and silver theme. So over Thanksgiving Staci and I went to Hobby Lobby and Target and I think we did a really good job! I will say I was a bit overwhelmed at Hobby Lobby until we figured out the direction we wanted to go. It was nice taking advantage of their 40% off sale! We also made the wreath! All the wreaths we found were too traditional, so we bought a "undressed" wreath and decorated it with green, silver, blue and gold glitter ornaments and lights! It was fun doing this project with Staci. McKenna's stocking came in as well, which made the mantel complete! We wrapped the staircase in garland and put gold and silver accents throughout. It looks so wonderful!

We decided not to put up Christmas tree this year because all of our ornaments are sentimental. I could do a tree with the shatterproof ornaments, but we decided not to mess with it. We do have a small 12" tree in our kitchen that will just have to do. We did put a few festive items in the game room and did a centerpiece in the dining room as well.

That makes our decorations complete! Simple, but festive!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: BB's First Concert

A couple of weeks ago Brian told me to mark my calendar for Sunday, January 4th because we are going on a date... I had no idea what he was up to. On Friday he came home with tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I was so excited. I have been wanting to see them for years! I listen to their music every Christmas and just love them!

So last night we went to the concert and it was amazing. The music was great and they had an awesome light show! We also had fun stuffing our faces with nachos, pretzel's and popcorn. It was so much fun experiencing them live and was a sweet night with Brian.

The concert also was a great way to end my holiday break...

Salado Christmas Stroll

On Friday night Brian and I went to Salado with our friends Tania, Kimball, Maya, Barbi, Amanda and Jeff for the annual Christmas Stroll. We ate dinner at the Stagecoach Inn and then walked around town looking at all the stores and enjoying the scenery. It was a great time hanging out with friends and getting into the Christmas spirit.

The only downfall was that I did not get my afternoon nap, so I was totally exhausted all evening. Naps are a new found necessity if I am going to stay up later than 8:00. Needless to say, I think I was asleep in the car before we even go out of Salado.