The Big Day

Finally Christmas arrived, the boys never thought it would come. We have never pushed Santa, but Leland was pretty interested in him, so we did do some Santa gifts this year. Watching their faces when they saw the presents was fun. Leland immediately started looking at the tags to see who they were for. He then discovered the stockings!! After our Christmas we had my dad and Kathy and Pam and Al over. We have to say the best Christmas gift came from Pam and Al, a trip for all of us to Myrtle Beach for Spring break, let the count down begin!! We then headed out to my Uncle Tim's for dinner. After a brief visit there we headed to Grandma Cleo's (Nate's grandma). This was our busiest day, but we all had a good time!!

Christmas Eve

We started Christmas Eve out by spending some time with the Bailey side of Nate's family. We then headed to church to enjoy the Christmas Eve service. We rounded out the evening by letting the kids open a couple of presents from us. Leland needed new pjs so we also got some for Sutton. We always get the boys a new ornament. So that is what they got to open.

The First Christmas of 2011

We started our Christmas celebrations with Pam's family on Friday. Everyone came to our house and we all ate too much food!!! The boys were excited to open some presents. They got lots of nice things, but they are enjoying a construction set from grandma Chris and grandpa Bill the best.

Rockin' It Out

Leland's school put on a kindergarten Christmas program the Tuesday before school got out for vacation. Leland had been singing some of the songs at home, especially during dinner so I thought he would sing at the program. I was wrong!! For most of the songs he just stood there. I think he may have been a little intimidated by the number of people who were there. He was much more comfortable after the program ended as you can see in the photo with his good buddy Eddie. I would have posted more pictures from the program, but I could not find the right setting on my camera for clear pictures.

Christmas Cards Minus The Postage

I opted not to do Christmas cards this year. Instead you can view our annual family Christmas tree photo on the blog!!

Final Touches

Decorating is no different than baking, the boys have to sample the sprinkles. Not sure how they can stand to eat just sprinkles, but they do!! They helped with the sprinkles from the first cookie to the last. I didn't think they would stick with it that long, but they did.

Baking Up Some Deliciousness

The boys and I started baking near the beginning of December. Of course eating some of the dough was the highlight. The first batch we baked took several days from start to finish, but it was worth the wait!! Well Nate and I waited for completed cookies, but as you can see the boys could not wait.

Frozen Toes Parade

We attended the annual Christmas parade again this year. Going with the familiar we again had Brownies Pizza, which Leland will tell you is the best. We also had some yummy pizza fondue made by Aunt Kay!! Just like last year the highlights of the parade included: candy, tractors, and jeeps that were all lit up for the occasion.

Let There Be Light

The kids waited patiently, well at least they tried to wait patiently as I put all the things on the tree that needed to go on before the ornaments. Each year they get more excited about helping with all the Christmas decorations which is fun for me to see!! Each box is opened with such excitement. You wouldn't believe the debates that take place about who gets to hang what ornaments, they both are already forming which ones they like best!!

Timber!!

We also got our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Nothing like trying to pack lots of holiday events into one day. We enjoyed a tractor ride out to where we could cut our tree. Well at least the boys did. The boy driving the tractor didn't waste any time getting us there and it was a bit bumpy. It seems that we always tend to go with just barely enough time to pick a tree before it starts getting dark, it was no different this year. The highlight for the boys was getting to have a turn with the saw!!