O Hulcher Night

You'll have to just believe me that these pictures are from our Christmas with the Hulchers Wednesday night.....none of the Hulchers actually made it into a picture! Why is that? I'll do better next time!

Love this family portrait (even though Claire looks less than thrilled to be posing)

Claire got this balloon from Kroger when we were on the way out and the nice lady at the check-out gave it to her. We love Kroger!! (Now I'm a little worried she's going to expect a balloon each time.....hope a "Paid for" sticker will do)

We all gathered together at my parents' house for an "appetizer night" and presents with Clay, Patti, Sam, Uncle Chuck, and Aunt Bradford. It was great to see everyone and get to celebrate all over again!

All this opening-presents-business makes a girl tired!

Thanks everybody for all of the nice gifts!!

Christmas on hold

We woke up to a winter wonderland, but I was not a happy camper. We had planned to have another round of Christmas celebrating at my parents house with Andy, Tara, and Samara. Since it had snowed several inches overnight and was supposed to snow all day we decided to postpone.
Even though we were a little bummed about it, we made the best of it and enjoyed a snowed-in day. We were very lazy and took one trip outside to play in the snow. The following day Claire and I went out to play (Daddy had to go to work Monday morning) and I got a few pictures and videos...


She was loving making snow angels!

Hmm.....I wish Santa had thought to bring a sled for us. I tried to use a storage container lid - it sort of worked.

We went for a walk to check out what the other kids in the neighborhood were doing. It was very icy on our street and Claire was being a ham and "falling." Such a drama queen...

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

After gifts and breakfast at our house (apple french toast casserole, sausage balls, and chocolate chip pumpkin bread!) it was time to pack it up and head to the farm. All morning we had seen flurries and as we got closer to the farm, the snow started to fall a little more. It was so beautiful at the farm!

Claire always remembers exactly where the toys are at Ganny's house and she headed right to them.


After all the excitement and several days without a nap, it all caught up to her right as we were ready to sit down to lunch. She was not the most pleasant company for a while, but she perked up just in time for cake (imagine that).

Then we gathered around the tree and watched Ganny her open her gifts!

Meanwhile Max and Ruby played in a doll house with a green-haired troll and a couple Christmas tree ornaments.


The snow hadn't been sticking to the roads yet, but we cut our visit short and headed home just in case. By the time we got home the ground was covered and we could officially say we had a white Christmas!

Hurray, It's Christmas Day!

I woke up around 6:15am to Christmas carols being sung in the monitor - but luckily Claire was perfectly fine playing in her room until I came to get her close to 8. Something tells me we won't get away with that next year!!

As we were coming downstairs, she started to get a little concerned that Santa might actually be in our living room so I reassured her that he had left the building....and then we went to check out the loot. She was very excited in her own reserved way. She went over to see what he brought, found 1 tiny little toy and she would have probably been happy playing with that for the rest of the morning. (She was also upset that the reindeer had not finished his carrot and Santa had left a tiny piece of his cookie)

We let her see the unwrapped presents that Santa brought and her stocking while we waited for Popa and Jake to arrive. (Mimi and Papa had spent the night here with us.)

She was so happy with all her presents - it was hard to convince her to stop playing with something in order to open something else.

Even Charlie got a few presents!

Mommy and Daddy found Max and Ruby dolls for her - I knew those would be a hit. Many Max and Ruby reenactments have taken place around here!

Merry Christmas morning!!

Home for the Holidays

This year we wanted to make sure Santa could find us so we stayed in our own home for Christmas Eve and morning. We invited the Barnes crew and the Masons over and I fixed dinner. Luckily Jake's girlfriend Lindsey come because she was the person Claire was most excited to see!
I tried to set up our "dining room" as nicely as possible - it's hard to be fancy when it's mis-matched chairs and an added card table crammed into the playroom. We had bread, 2 different soups, and my mom brought desserts. (FYI....if you ever join us for Christmas eve dinner from now on, "soup night" is our new tradition - an easy meal to fix for a crowd!) It was great to have everyone together for dinner....including Elfie. Can you find him?

After dinner we drove around to look at Christmas lights. Claire wanted to show Mimi the "jackpot houses" we had found earlier in the week - a whole street nearby that has tons of lights! Then of course before bedtime, we read The Night Before Christmas...

and left cookies for Santa...

and a carrot right outside the back door for the reindeer.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and we were nestled all snug in our beds.....it was almost time for Christmas morning!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Friday was our big day to go see the Legendary Santa. We came up with a good plan to get there when the doors open and I would wait in line while Claire and Daddy had breakfast (their favorite spot - "Old McDonald's"). I thought it might be extra crowded with all the kids being off of school for another snow day, but I was the FIRST one there! I couldn't stop laughing at myself because I felt so silly sitting in line all by myself.


Soon enough, the line starting filling up and they got back from breakfast. Claire had fun running around the lobby while we waited a few more minutes for Santa. I had met a nice mom and her 5 year old daughter in line (I actually remembered her from last year!) and the girls had fun playing together. They wrote letters to Santa (Claire kept saying she wanted to "work on her list")

they looked at the gingerbread houses,

and then it was time to go in! Claire sat next to Serena and waited for Santa to come down the chimney.

She watched (very interested, but of course not cracking a smile) and was the most excited about talking to the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen asked what her name is and she said "This is Claire." She even gave a little hug and chatted with the Snow Queen for another minute. (We had asked Serena if she would like to be the very first little girl to visit Santa - that way Claire could see "how it was done.")

Finally, Santa turned around and called Claire by name to come and see him! I was so proud of her - no tears at all and she even answered his questions! She gave Santa the stare-down, but that is much better than crying!!

She even talked in the microphone. He asked what she'd like for Christmas and she said "I like toys."

As soon as we left, she was ready for her cookie. I might have bribed her just a little by saying that she'd get a special treat if she sat on Santa's lap!! Ha ha!!

School is Closed!

This week was the last week of preschool before the holidays and Tuesday was a fun day! Claire was so excited when I picked her up because she had a present to give me. She proudly handed it over and we opened it at home. It was an ornament with her little fingerprints and she asked to hang it on the tree (but she wasn't too happy about me taking pictures).

Thursday was her first ever SNOW DAY! School was cancelled by the county the night before - before a single snowflake had fallen. We ended up getting about 2 inches but with a layer of ice over that. I was sad they didn't get to have their Christmas party at preschool, but we had a nice day playing in the snow and hanging out at home. Since she didn't get one more day to tell her teachers merry Christmas, here's a little message for them...

Holiday Fun

We've been counting down....and we're half-way there!

So many fun things to do this month.....the Christmas music, the books, lights & decorations, and of course...finding Elfie every morning!

Claire got a package the other day from the Swicks and one said we could open it right away! She was so excited to open a present. It was a Santa plate and cup which we promptly used for dinner that night. I told her to smile nicely and this is what I got...

Santa even sent Claire a message and told her that he'd heard she'd been good this year and that she should keep working on listening to her parents, and being kind and generous. She loved hearing Santa say her name and look at her picture in his file book!

And last, but not least....Santa stopped by early this year!!! All Claire has been asking for for Christmas is a snowman. We woke up to a surprise this morning - a few inches of snow!! And it was perfect snowman-making snow. We didn't have much time since it's a work day for me, but we went out and built a snowman and ran around through the snow a little.

(gotta love that this is the 3rd year she can wear her coat!! Oh my, I've turned into my mom....she bought me snow pants in middle school that were so big I could still wear them on a ski trip with Rob!!)