Holiday Fun - Part 1

Even though things are crazy as we try to spend time working on the new house, we just couldn't leave out some of our holiday traditions. I tried to convince the kids that it would be a good year to skip a couple of things... but it didn't work. Last weekend we made "gingerbread houses". A messy tradition I wouldn't miss, but they're pretty creative. Here's the Miller subdivision (yes, some have garages).

Sophie found out that she won in a coloring contest that the local paper runs. Here is her AWESOME prize. She also got to have her picture in the paper with all the other kids that won. Thank goodness she won because she colored a lot of pictures. It was quite the chore delivering her entries to over twenty businesses.

Monday was Max's Christmas preschool program. They sang several songs and Santa made a surprise visit... so cute!

On Tuesday, Santa made another surprise visit to the elementary school. Unfortunately, he caught Sophia in a "time out " chair in the hall. But she was sure that everything would be ok, because it was just Santa's helper. She knew this because "he didn't have a belly like a bowl full of jelly, he didn't have rosy cheeks or a nose like a cherry"...geez! We told her she wasn't safe because he'd be reporting what he saw to the real Santa. Didn't phase her. Tuesday was also cookie day. So very messy...but yummy.

Christmas Eve we went over to Providence for a family party at Grandpa and Grandma Campbell's house. The REAL Santa stopped by...this was obvious because he had a REAL beard. Then we had a great dinner and exchanged gifts. You might wonder what's up with the crowns. About 10 years ago, my mom started a tradition to tie into our English heritage. She passes out English crackers. No, not food. They're little cardboard tubes that you pull apart and inside is a little trinket, a joke and a paper crown. We all wear our crowns during a dinner and it's an essential part to Christmas Eve dinner for us now.

For Christmas we just enjoyed a day at home. Since we live closer now, Grandma and Grandpa Campbell and my sister, Anne, came over to see what Santa brought the kids and we had lunch together. It was fun playing in our jammies all day. Unfortunately, Todd had to go to work at 6:00 pm for a 24-hour ER shift, so the evening was really quiet. He'll be able to spend the rest of the weekend with us and we'll be headed to Altamont to visit the Miller family...so check back for Part II.

Happy Holidays!