Christmas Joys

Our Christmas festivities kicked off on Christmas eve this year. I've had this gingerbread house mold since 1999 or so and this is the first time we have ever used it. You press in half of the dough, cook it, let the gingerbread cool and let the mold cool completely (it's stoneware) and then press in the other half. I decided to read while it cooled and Logan came out to say hi and had something in his mouth. I asked him what he had and he said "Nothing." I said "I think it's something." He then replied, "It's all in my belly now." I didn't press it, just figured he had a cracker or something. A little while later I go into the kitchen to see if the mold was cool and noticed that the chimney portion is half gone and there are bite marks in it. I asked Ty if he ate it and he said no, and then I asked Logan. He got a little grin on his face and shook his head yes. Luckily I had enough dough to make another chimney. Ty and the kids put the house together with assorted candies we got at the store and it turned out pretty cute.

Then the kids got dressed in their Christmas pajamas and we read The Night Before Christmas. Then we put out a big cookie and milk for Santa.

Once the kids were in bed, Santa and Mrs. Clause got working on the big present to the kids. We got a HUGE tote full of GeoTrax from a friend and Logan is in love with trains. So we worked for about an hour and a half putting together all the tracks and trains. We set it up in our dining room and it turned out really good.

The next morning we opened all the presents in the living room first. Logan would barely glance at one present before opening another. They both loved all their presents. Next Ty told them a story about how he was trying to sleep, but heard noises in the dining room and came to see what it was. He found Santa putting together a special present for the kids. So they came into the dining room and found the train set. Logan was speechless, it was so funny. I thought he'd be jumping up and down and yelling. But he just looked at it all like it wasn't real. Then he played with it ALL DAY! He'd come out and play with some of his other toys for a few minutes, but then go back to the trains. I could hardly get him to eat any food, he just wanted to play. Alex likes the trains too, but was more interested in playing with her barbies or reading her new books.

It was a very nice small family Christmas and we enjoyed playing and relaxing all day.