25 Days of Christmas: Day 25 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Dworianyn Love Nest! This morning we are having our family Christmas with Ethan and Sofia and then we are headed over to Rich and Tif's to celebrate with Michael's family. I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas and enjoying this time with family and friends. I will have lots of pictures and recaps from our Christmas activities next week!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 24 - Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve, Christmas is finally here and I am so excited! We are beginning our Christmas celebrations this evening by hosting my extended family. Then it's off to bed so Santa can bring our good little boy and girl some special surprises. 

We also had to say good-bye to our elf Jingle Bells this morning. He's hang gliding back to the North Pole to help Santa. We had lots of fun with him and are going to miss him. See you next year Jingle Bells! 

Merry Christmas everyone!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 23 - All is calm...all is bright

Well it's the day before all of the Christmas festivities begin! Things are very chill here in the Dworianyn Love Nest. The shopping is done, the presents are wrapped, the baking is done. Everything is ready to go. Today I am doing some cooking for our Christmas Eve party here with my family tomorrow night. The kids and I are going to do some Christmas crafts as well. Tonight we are just going to relax, watch some movies and enjoy the quiet before all the craziness starts.

I can't believe Christmas starts tomorrow, we are so excited! 

25 Days of Christmas: Day 22 - Fun with Jingle Bells the Elf

We have been having so much fun with our elf, Jingle Bells, this year! Ethan and Sofia run downstairs every morning to see what he has been up to over night. Since our elf will be returning home to the North Pole Christmas Eve night until next year, I thought I would provide an update on all of the fun things he has done this month!

Jingle Bells turned us all into Rudolph by adding red noses to our picture!

Jingle Bells made himself an igloo.

Jingle Bells was feeling a little short around us so he got himself a set of stilts!

Jingle Bells delivered some naughty list notices for Ethan and Sofia for bad behavior!

Jingle Bells left a puzzle for Ethan and Sofia to come find him.

They found him and this is also the day Ethan touched Jingle Bells so he lost his magic for a couple of days.

Jingle Bells came back from the elf hospital in the North Pole.

Jingle Bells made a snow angel with marshmallows.

Jingle Bells was feeling Joyful.

Jingle Bells made himself a hammock under the tree.

To celebrate Ethan's last day of Pre-K for the year, Jingle Bells wrapped up Ethan's backpack.

Jingle Bells brought the kiddos a countdown chain to celebrate only 10 days until Christmas.

Jingle Bells covered himself in stickers and brought the kiddos some fun sticker books to play with.

Jingle Bells was ready to bake cookies!

Jingle Bells donned a beard like Santa to celebrate the kiddos going to see him at the Santa Brunch.

Jingle Bells hanging out in Ethan's stocking.

Jingle Bells made himself a snow globe.

Jingle Bells teepeed our Christmas tree

Jingle Bells roasted marshmallows on our dining room table

25 Days of Christmas: Day 21 - New Ornament Additions

Every year we always add to our ornament collection. Some are series we are continuing from Hallmark, some are gifts, and some are vacation souvenirs. I've picked out a few of our favorites that we added this year to give you a closer look!

This one is probably my favorite this year since it represents moving into our new home. Each year we pick one ornament to showcase on this ornament hanger and this was the winner.

Of course I have to include our family ornament that we made this year!

We've had this red piano that plays 3 Christmas songs for several years and the kiddos love it. Hallmark came out with a new one this year with new songs and knew we had to have it so they could each have a piano. They are obsessed with pressing the songs and dancing to them!

Trolls has been a big hit in our house the past couple of months so this was Sofia's ornament this year!

I love the ornaments Ethan and Sofia picked out at the Christkindlemarket this year, it was such a fun day and a memory I won't forget!

Of course we had to get an ornament to commemorate the Cubs winning the World Series!

I love this ornament my parents got us at Walt Disney World this year! I can't wait to pick out some new ones when we go next year too!

I love all of the homemade ornaments that the kiddos have made on the tree. Ethan made this snowman this year and it is one of my favorites!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 20 - Santa Brunch

On Sunday we went to Shaw's Crab House for their annual Santa brunch. We have been doing this for three years now and it's always a lot of fun and delicious! The kiddos were excited to see Santa and looked so cute.

Arla, Teddy, Lily and Violet joined us there and the girls were excited to see Santa too. They were so happy when the big guy stopped by our table almost as soon as we got there!

Ethan was really excited too!

Sofia however, was less than enthused...

She would close her eyes and cover her face as to make him disappear and wouldn't open them again until we told her he was gone. She kept saying, "Santa scary." So I did what any great mother would do and brought her to sit on his lap, HA! She was still not having it though and just closed her eyes until it was over. Sorry Sofia, but this will be a hilarious memory I will never forget and hopefully you will like Santa a little better next year. 

Ethan got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas and did great.

After brunch we went back to our house, my Mom and Dad came over as well and we had our family Christmas with the 10 of us. The kiddos were so excited for presents. This is the first of several events over the next week where they get presents so there was extra excitement! They did really well taking turns though. They received so many great things, we all did.

It was such a wonderful day and just the beginning of our Christmas celebrations!