Hope everyone is having the best holiday!

May yours be Merry and Bright!!

My niece asked me the other day, while standing in line waiting for Santa, why we are willing to do this each year for our kids. I told her because I love to see the wonder and magic of the holidays on their faces. I love to see their smiles as they visit with Santa. And I know soon – too soon – the reality will set in – and they will no longer believe – and then to get the magic back you have to wait to see it on your kids’ faces. Because I still believe in the magic, I do it.

Checking their lists for Santa.

Playing in the “snow”

Thrilled to be so close to the big guy (we were next)…

Lastly, Santa smiles.

Yeah, that is why I wait in lines, I try to keep kids patient and in good moods. And I’ll do it again and again as long as they’ll let me!

By now most people should have received our 2010 Christmas card – if not – don’t worry – it’s on it’s way! This year, I love how it turned out! I had so much fun with this year’s idea.

I thought props would help make the experience more fun for the kids and give us a better chance at getting a picture of 5 smiling people. I don’t think I could have been more wrong, judging by some of our outtakes…

These children are clearly having the time of their lives!

Pretty sure someone kicked his dog…

I mean, I don’t think these guys could have MORE fun…

So let this be a lesson to you…don’t rely on props to make your Christmas card fun! But do enjoy your holiday!

See all of our outtakes and our other Christmas fun over here!

We have been having fun with the countdown activities this year. We have been doing a good job keeping up with the activities, which has been fun for me and the kids. Recently one of the activities was to paint ornaments – sorry to the grandmas that may receive these as gifts. But the kids were having too much fun not to share these fun pics!

C really likes art projects and he takes his time and does a really nice job now.

R has his own approach – and that typically is mono-color, but it is still sweet and I love love love that he participated with us. (Notice the lefty!)

Even my niece joined in on the fun. I love that she joins us and doesn’t just ignore the projects! I am so happy she is here doing this with us!

I have more to share from a walk in the cold, to C and Kay being superheros, to my niece being AWESOME at her dance recital. So more soon!

Every year, I talk about the Christmas Countdown and every year, I think I can blog every day – the count down is RIPE for blog material. But the reality is that I get lost in doing the things for the countdown, or I get busy with other holiday activities that tend to happen during this time, that my blogging it takes a back seat. Well, I wish I was here to tell you NO more. But really, it’s not true. But we are doing the countdown and we have been having some fun with it. This year, I decided to introduce Making Gingerbread Houses into the mix. The boys are getting to a good age where they can decorate and with my niece here, I have more helping hands to do more complicated tasks with the boys. So one of the early tasks was to create gingerbread houses. We made tiny ones – one for each of us – and created a village. To be honest, the boys were bored at the beginning, but they did like the decorating part. So it turned out fun for all. Here are some photos:

Thank goodness my niece is crafty AND patient!

My little candy cottage

The Completed Village – I so wonder who’s house that is in the front.

My niece’s completed church – after she helped the boys with theirs.

It was a fun couple of hours of laughing and decorating and sneaking of treats. A tradition I hope we continue. And, while I am on the subject, I may not be the best blogger of our antics, you can see all of our holiday fun over here called 2010 Holiday Fun. Enjoy it, I know I do!