We had a Holly Jolly Christmas...this year

We made our traditional c-mas sugar cookies on c-mas eve. A few for santa and the rest for us. Yum.

The kids woke up at 5:30 c-mas morning, well not George. And Jeremy sent them back to bed, such a mean dad. But they fell back to sleep and didn't wake up til 8:30. I can't believe they actually fell back to sleep. We thought for sure they'd be at our besides begging us to get up again at least by 6:30.

Santa left a Santa Sack this year. The gifts from him were in there unwrapped. It was the first thing they opened right after stockings of course.  This was new this year and I loved it. I think for next year I'm going to make each of them their own santa sack to leave for santa to put his gifts in. It's like a pillow case, but bigger. Wish I would have thought of this sooner. Santa's just to darn busy to wrap everything, so he gets to put them right in the sack. If you want to see some cute homemade ones, go to designdazzle.blogspot.com. I saw this idea after c-mas was over and had never heard of it before. The one sack this year was perfect for all 3 of them 'cause santa only left 1 gift each for them. So it could be done either way. I hope it will be one of those traditions my kids will want to carry on to their own families some day.

MJ got the pillow pet she asked for. A cute pink pig.
She was so cute watching her face as she opened all her gifts. She squealed with joy and excitement every time. I think she got everything she asked for and more.

Pulling out the boys' gifts from santa.

Airsoft shotguns.
No squeals from them, but they were excited none the less.

Jeter got a new chew toy.

The aftermath. It's the one time I actually enjoy having a messy house. For a little while anyways.

All the kids got money and gift cards from all the grandparents too. They love having money to go out and spend it on whatever they want.

MJ bought this butterfly chair from Justice, her favorite store, using practically all her money. She'd been wanting one for years so she didn't care that all her money was gone. It's always a hard decision to buy one big thing or lots of little things. The boys bought lots of little things so far with there money, like shoes and clothes and airsoft accessories.

These are a few of MJ's favorites c-mas presents. She colored the bag herself and is going to use it as a school bag.

The other day I went around and took a few pictures of some of my favorite new c-mas decorations.

 I got these pictures free from a blog so all I did was print them out and frame them, which I already had.

 I've had this embroidery done for a few years, but finally put it in a frame this year.

 I love my red and white tree. I added new red balls I got from Targets after c-mas clearance last year .

 My beautiful Willow Tree Nativity.  I still haven't found the perfect spot yet for it, each year it's in a new place.

 This c-mas subway art was a free download too. ( I love looking at crafty blogs and love that they share free ideas and downloads.)

 I made this countdown at super saturday this year.

 George brought home this poinsettia that he made at school. Isn't it cool?

We hung our stockings on our railing. I wish we had a fireplace, so for now they decorate our stairs along with the snowflake lights that we used to use on our house porch.

I hope everyone had a great christmas, we sure did. We went to see Harry Potter c-mas afternoon and loved it. We played lots of games the kids got that day like Apples to Apples, LCR, mad gabs and Kanoodle. Ate lots of yummy food. And the best part is just enjoying each others company and having fun together, being lazy and having Dad home with us all day.

Love to all.