Christmas break 2011

I'm almost done blogging 2011! This feels like an event.

We headed to Lubbock for Christmas once again, actually ditching school a week early so we could see Scott's sister Kim and her husband and kids during their pre-Christmas visit. Unfortunately I was apparently so involved in enjoying the visit that I forgot to document it with my camera! Which really stinks, because the cousins got along so well. Kim, James and the boys live cross-country in Tennessee, so we don't see them very often at all. It was fun to see all the cute little cousins playing together and particularly to see Kim and James's boys taking such good care of our littlest people. So if any of our family has photos of those days to share with me, I'll gladly accept them!

A photo of Gwen, the dog-torturer. She has the best of intentions, most of the time, she just doesn't know when she's crossed the line from cuddling and playing to smothering and torturing.

Gingerbread house making time! One of our favorite Christmas traditions!

Gwen loves to help in the kitchen. Scott and Nate really wanted my peppermint frosted brownies, so Gwen smashed candy canes in their wrappers for me. As she worked she'd yell, "Smack!"

Christmas Eve. For literally 2-3 hours straight Ava tracked Santa Claus online. NORAD follows him all over the globe. Ava took note of exactly where he'd been, what time he arrived, and how many presents he delivered while there. Ava was seriously thrown off, though, when Santa started visiting some places he'd already been. She knew for certain when he'd already visited somewhere, she had 4 pages worth of notes to refer to. Nobody counted on a 7 year old with tenacity and focus like Ava's!

Brenna wanted to make sure I got a picture of her with Grandma and Grandpa L's dog, Kate. The Christmas Eve snow was just beginning to fall.

We like to have a nice dinner on Christmas Eve, which this year included ham, rolls, strawberry jello pretzel salad, green bean casserole and yams.

There was a massive rebellion against the traditional reenactment of the Nativity. Only Ava was excited, but we pressed forward anyway.

I love this picture of Gwen and the grandparents.

In the past Brenna has furiously protested the traditional unwrapping of the Christmas Eve jammies, so instead of doing away with it altogether this year I added a stuffed animal for each kiddo. In case you didn't know, I am a flipping genius. Bathed, jammied, and ready to go to bed!

We made sugar cookies for Santa and left them with a glass of milk and Ava's note. Santa told me they were delicious.

The kids were in bed and asleep quickly, which was phenomenal! I promise, I did not drug them, but I think I might do it in the future, just to ensure the same blissful Christmas Eve experience!

Just kidding.