It's tradition that Michael goes and plays poker for a few hours with family so while he was playing poker I was prepping some yummy food for Thanksgiving. I made roasted brussels sprouts, a pumpkin turtle ice cream cake and the stuffing.
We have so much to be thankful for!
My sister and her husband Teddy did a great job with Thanksgiving. Everything was so delicious and everyone had a great time. I was terrible and didn't take any pictures. I did get a picture of Sofia trying to tell us how tired and ready for bed she was though, HA!
On Friday the kids woke up to a special surprise, we had an elf come visit! This is our first year doing Elf on a Shelf and Ethan was so excited!
After breakfast we got out our Christmas tree and started to get it all set up and decorated. This was the first year that Ethan could really help and he loved it!
Ethan also loved decorating this cute little fabric tree I got at Hallmark
After lunch and some naps we got ready and headed down to my parent's house to help decorate their Christmas tree. It has been a very long standing tradition. We picked up some hot cocoa and cranked up the Christmas music and we were on our way!
Ethan and Sofia loved the tree. Sofia mostly liked grabbing at it, but she would take some ornaments and stick them in the tree!
Arla and Teddy came with Lily and Violet and we finished decorating the tree, setting up the train and had dinner. The kids had a great time. I love this tradition and look forward to it every year!
When we left my Dad turned on all of the lights on their house so the kids could see and they loved it. It looks so beautiful! It was the perfect start to our Christmas season!
When we got home we put on Christmas pajamas for the first time this year and had story time!
On Saturday we mostly relaxed and worked on more Christmas decorating. Saturday evening we went to a local town's Christmas light display and museum. The lights were so pretty and the kids loved it.
Across the street from the light display they have a museum that had some special holiday exhibits. They had a lego train set up and a Peanuts collection. It was a fun little outing with our littles!
On Sunday we got up and headed out to breakfast and the grocery store. Ethan was stylin'! This picture cracks me up. He looks like a celebrity caught by the paparazzi, HA!
After lunch, Sofia went down for a nap and Ethan headed to Michael's parents house. He was going to help them decorate their tree and do some crafts. His cousins Jacob and Makayla were there too so he had a lot of fun! He came home and showed me the ornament and snow man necklace he made and immediately hung them on the tree!
After dinner it was time for some more Christmas pajamas! My two little elves look so cute!
Look at the difference a year makes!
And tomorrow, I am kicking off our 25 days of Christmas for 2015. For the past 6 years, I have blogged every day throughout the month of December as part of our "25 Days of Christmas" series. It is a great way to record how we celebrate Christmas and the entire holiday season. I know that it will be a lot of fun to look back at all of our family Christmas memories throughout the years. We can't wait to share our Christmas happenings with all of you and hope you look forward to following along as we countdown to Christmas!
