Christmas Eve 2015

Christmas pictures, finally! It's only March and that's okay, at least it's getting done, right?

I've been fortunate enough to have enough PTO days to take most of Christmas break off to be with the kids. We didn't do candy houses this year because we didn't have enough candy and I didn't want to have partially eaten candy out for whatever creatures decided to stop by for a snack. I wasn't going to stop the ornament making tradition though, so on Christmas Eve I pulled out popsicles and paint and we made ornaments. Sadly I only got two pictures.

Creating our Ornaments

My sled is the red one next to Nate.
He is working on a sled; Ro is creating a Christmas window;
Graigry made a penguin

Neta had a grand plan in her head about the Santa sleigh she wanted to build. Much to her dismay, we could not create the mental picture into a reality. She was quite upset about it and I had to convince her to do something simpler.

We also biked to the neighborhood park (that Eric help spear head when Neta was a baby) for a little bit. December in Indiana, you never know what you're going to get; typically the winter slaps you in the face in February. December is typically bathed in brown.

NOT how she actually went down the slide,
although she made a 1 sec. attempt

Playing on the monkey bars.
Graigry is keeping his face warm with the
face mask.

Of course we opened one present on Christmas Eve. We let the kids open one present from one of their siblings. I love the reactions they have when they open each others' gifts. Even if it's something very simple, they are excited and appreciate the thought that went into the gift.

Xela reading a hand written card

Ro opening a bracelet that Nate made

Look out Scottsville!
Neta has a Nerf gun!

The big purchase this year, because at 8 1/2 years old Neta was getting too big for the toddler bed, was a twin sized bed for her. We were given a mattress (thankfully) and found a metal (not doing wood again after getting rid of critters) frame that didn't need a box spring. Eric set that up Christmas Eve after the kids were in bed with the intent was to surprise Neta Christmas morning with one of the few things she'd asked for. This is what the living room looked like Christmas morning:

Merry Christmas to all!