Trimming the Tree

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only blogger in blog land trying to wrap up my Christmas posts. January seems to be a quiet month in these parts, which is perfectly fine with me, so I should have plenty of time to do so...

We didn't go anywhere exciting to pick our Christmas tree this year... but, as usual, we're always trying to find a way to make the ordinary a little more fun:)

After the branches had fallen, we decorated our Memory Tree.

Daddy always puts the star at the top of tree as the final touch.

One morning while I sat on the couch drinking coffee and admiring our tree, I snapped this picture of it with my phone. It was just one of those warm fuzzy moments where you can't help but find the beauty in the simplest of things.

Every year, we put up two Christmas trees in our home. I have come to call them our Capital City Tree (that can be seen in our North Pole Breakfast post) and our Memory Tree. I love creating these memories with my littles and hope that one day they will cherish them as much as I do.

Evan's Christmas Program

Evan recently had a Christmas program at his preschool.

The parents and grandparents were allowed to come to the stage and take pictures before the performance.

I got a lot of this...

and this... ("Not feelin' it, Mom.")

He was still my favorite little performer, even if he only mouthed most of the words:)

Afterwards, there was a cookie reception where Evan got to meet his adoring fans;)

Nana, Granddaddy, and Aunt Dana with Evan

Momma and Daddy with Evan...Chloe was at school.

Evan certainly doesn't adore the limelight, but it's nice to have times where he is the (little) man of the hour every now and then. He's always been my shy boy, but it's nice to see how he has come out of his shell in preschool this year. 

We are so very proud of you, Evan! Also, thank you to those that made it to the performance. I know that Evan truly appreciated you being there.

A Date with Mrs. Claus & Ellie the Elf!

Our local Chick-fil-A hosted a fun night with Mrs. Claus and Ellie the Elf.

Evan was quite the little charmer with the ladies!

Mrs. Claus was so sweet and told the littles all about how Santa was able to visit to every child on Christmas Eve to deliver presents. She even showed them Santa's special key that was able to open any door just in case there wasn't a chimney for him to go down.

 

Ellie the Elf was a riot! She explained how she was so much bigger than their scout elves, Elfa and Tiger. She was a hairdresser at the North Pole and apparently the humidity in the South made her expand. She told funny stories about the big man and had the littles giggling with delight!

Mrs. Claus and Ellie were so engaging. The littles really enjoyed meeting them...And, they remembered to leave a candy cane out on Christmas Eve with a note that read "For Ellie", so Santa would know it was for her :)

Aubie Claus

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we took a drive to the loveliest village on the plains to visit our favorite mascot decked out in his Christmas attire, Aubie Claus!

The digital files were emailed to me earlier this week and here are the results.

(I wish that the littles had been looking at the camera in the second picture. It could have been Christmas card material.)

I was unsure about how Evan would do. As many of you already know, he doesn't like costumed characters. The night before we were set to meet Aubie Claus, I overheard him telling Chloe that he wasn't scared of Aubie anymore and that he wasn't afraid to touch him. I guess that these pictures would have been much funnier if he had been...

Looking at these pictures, I'm reminded of the first time that Chloe and Evan met Aubie Claus. Wook at my babies! They've grown so much. 

Thank you, Aubie! 

The Aubie Claus photos were taken to help raise money for Aubie's trip to the 2015 UCA National Championship in Orlando, FL. At this very moment, he is competing in the Capitol One Mascot Challenge Finals! Please help him win this final round by voting for him here! You can vote more than once, so max out those votes!

Elves at Work {2014 North Pole Breakfast}

We continued our annual North Pole Breakfast tradition to welcome back our favorite scout elves, Elfa and Tiger. They arrived on December 1st. However, since the first was a Monday, I decided to hold off on the breakfast until the following Saturday. There would be no grumpy midnight decorating for me this year, like last year. ;)

As usual, I decorated after the littles had gone to bed. I snapped a few pictures before heading to bed myself.

 

Elfa and Tiger brought a letter for Chloe and Evan to "READ". To be honest, I intended to spell out "WE'RE BACK" with the m&m's, but didn't have enough for both words.

I set out a few sweets and decorations. The littles were obsessed with nutcrackers last year, so I thought it would be cute to add a couple of little nutcrackers (Dollar Tree finds) to our decor. I wasn't able to find fake snow during my hour-long lunch break, so I improvised with cotton balls. I ordered the elf cookies from an Etsy shop. They came all the way from Bulgaria!! And of course, I set out our favorite holiday candies, candy cane kisses!

The littles already knew that we were set to have our North Pole Breakfast that Saturday, but they were still pleasantly surprised to wake up to our little spread.

Our oven's heating element broke a couple of days before our breakfast, so my plan for a cinnamon roll Christmas tree was foiled, but Pinterest and frozen waffle Christmas trees came to the rescue...I also finally got around to making Grinch kabobs this year. It just so happened that "The Grinch" movie aired on ABC Family the night before our NPB. 

The littles got their new Christmas pj's, a seasonal shirt, and a new Hallmark ornament! I like this tradition of opening these presents the morning of our North Pole Breakfast, so that they can be enjoyed all season long.

The coveted Elsa ornament! (Sorry, it's so blurry!) Seriously, I was put on a wait list at Hallmark to purchase this ornament! The sales associate laughed when I mentioned the Olaf ornament, which apparently had been sold out since the beginning of November "with no chance of restock".

I picked the Grinch ornament for Evan, which had a recording of a few of my favorites lines from the book, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

Our elf, Tiger, snuck in a little surprise into the the gift bags, Auburn ornaments! Chris is working on reflooring and painting the guest bedroom, so we can move Evan into his big boy room in the spring. I plan on putting up an Auburn-themed tree in his room next Christmas:)

Chris read Elfa and Tiger's letter to the littles.

And, we enjoyed our breakfast!

Later that afternoon, we worked on a gingerbread house that I picked up while I was out shopping for our NPB. 

I love finding time to create some Christmas magic in our house! It was a fun morning/afternoon!