Oma and Opa's Christmas

 Oma and Opa always decorate their house so beautifully - you can't help but get in a Christmas-y mood.

This is the manger scene, Opa always sets up. In the window sill you can see the note Santa left. It reads, 'Thank you for the cookies and milk. Hope you enjoy your presents. See you next year. Love you, Santa'

I wonder if Santa has a bunch of these made up before hand, so he can leave them at each house...hmmm.

Santa was very good to us this year. The kids enjoyed opening a crazy amount of presents. Poor Collin was sick, but that didn't seem to slow him down too much.

Even brother and sister enjoyed one of Payton's presents.

But the big gift from Santa this year was new bikes. It was a little chilly, so we only went out of 10 minutes, but the kids really think their bikes are cool.

Christmas Eve at Uncle Kevin's

There were presents and chicken kiev during Christmas Eve at Uncle Kevin's.

But what was most memorable for the kids was playing with their cousins.

I always enjoy Christmas Eve service at my brother's church. We took advantage of the beautifully decorated altar area to get some pics of the kids with their cousins.

 Of course, you would think it wouldn't be too difficult to get everyone to take one nice picture with everyone smiling....

 Think again....

As my Grandma Haug would say, 'This one's for the papers.':

Christmas at Great-Grandma's House

My Grandma Haug always has her Christmas on Dec. 23rd. We have not been to this Christmas celebration since before Payton was born because of Scott's work schedules. Scott was not able to come this year either, but we finally got to go.

The kids also got to meet some second cousins for the first time. Payton was especially thrilled - she seems to be a little more social that Ian.

The 'play room' - featuring toys from the time when my Dad was little.

We had the traditional tamales and chili for dinner, followed by the White Elephant gift exchange.

I, uh, lucked out on that event and brought home......

an udderly cow mug.

You know you want one.

Happy New Year! Oh, and Merry Christmas!

I know I haven't blogged in ages, so I'm going to be doing a little catching up over the next few posts. I have lots of excuses as to why I haven't blogged, but no one really wants to hear them because it's the usual holiday business. Just pretend that you understand, forgive me, and we'll move on :)

So, with that all said, we had a very nice holiday. The kids were out of school for 2 full weeks! so we tried to stay busy to ward off boredom.

We had a little Christmas at home before we joined up with the rest of the family for a total of 4!!! Christmas celebrations! (Seriously, it was out of control....)

At home, the large gift for the kids was the Lego Death Star. The kids have been drooling over this for the last 5 months, so this was the big present from Mommy and Daddy.

This set is huge. It has over 3800 pieces! Hopefully, it will take the kids (and Dad) a while to put together - I'm thinking at least a couple of months.

Ian's Christmas Program

Monday Night Ian had his school Christmas program. It was....what you would expect for a three year old Christmas program. His class got up and said a poem, or at least attempted a poem.

Then they sang Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star. 

At the end all the classes got up and sang Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. During Jingle Bells, Ian was too busy to sing. On the way home, he excitedly said, 'Do you know what's inside a bell!?' Well, he discovered it during his Christmas program :)

Ian did great and he looked adorable in his little angel costume!

Journey to Bethlehem and Live Nativity

The church that is part of Ian's school had a Live Nativity last weekend. It started inside the fellowship hall with a marketplace in Bethlehem.

They tasted some flat bread and wine (grape juice). They got to mill some grain, pet a fuzzy chicken, help make and keep a dreidel, watch someone make pottery and weave baskets. It was pretty informative and kinda fun, despite the crowded room.

Then outside we went to six different stations that had a little drama that told the story of Mary and Joseph's journey and of Jesus's birth.

The kids ate it up. But I think for Scott and I, we went to see the camels....

I don't know how to rent a camel or how much it is, but I want one for my next birthday :) They're cool.

And Fall Still Lingers On

Now that we're in December and we have our Christmas tree up, shouldn't Fall be done with now? At least you would think so....but we're still having some decent color out there (at least for Texas standards :).

And enjoying....leaves :)