Greeting cards have all been sent

There is a great sense of relief at our house - most of the decorating is finished, the cards are in the mail, most of the gifts are purchased, and I am in the mood to bake!

The Carpenters' Merry Christmas, Darling

Paint a pretty party scene all over town

The boys got to attend the second annual Christmas gift exchange with about 20 of their friends today - it was a great group of kids and moms and such a fun way to merry up ourselves!

Here's a group of friends playing on a slide feature,

with some pretty snazzy balancing by their friend Asher

After lunch, they painted suncatcher ornaments

(and Harry ate another of Miss Jenny's delish cupcakes)

It's a little easier to see the ornaments and pens in this shot
It only took about 10 minutes to get the entire gang situated with Santa

and the professional version looks a lot better than mine ;-)
The loot - we used elfster.com to draw names,

so each child gave one gift to a friend and went home with one gift

Let the unwrapping commence!

This shot of good friends Jack, Carter, and Zach just seemed sorta timeless to me :wub:

And here Jack is effusively thanking Miss Keisha for 'my favorite gift EVER. It's something I've wanted my entire life!' The boy has a definite flair for the dramatic, but it is an awesome gift!

Tho I didn't get a picture of Harry's amazing binoculars, he is completely thrilled with them and wanted to sleep with them tonite - thank you David!

Thanx to all the sweet moms who helped make it a fun day for everyone :-)

The Beach Boys' Christmas Time Is Here Again

Dressed in holiday style

We're still working on the house, but I think I'm down to the greenery, lites and putting away the boxes ;-)

I found this cool card holder that seems to be working so far....we'll see how it holds up once there are more cards, but so far it looks a little better than the old taped-to-the-window style! (I flunked out of the TSM school of design)

I couldn't really get a good picture of these old tin coasters, but that Coke Santa is my favorite - there is a set of six as well as some platters and tins that I use around the kitchen
I finally found a gumdrop tree - they call it a money tree, and I forgot about the smell of those spice gumdrops ....funny what makes it feel like Christmas, huh?

And the boys talked me into this little gingerbread house music box - it's one of the things they talk about all year, so there will be a repeat of the gingerbread house (prepare yourself, Dean)

There is tons more, but these are some of the newest and oldest things.

And I finished my part of the cards...woohoo!

Silver Bells

Oh what joy and what surprise

We got together with some dear friends for dinner and gift exchanging

You can't beat a Matchbox car for bringing on the joy

well, maybe watching someone open your present to them!
Harry loves the maze on the back of his new Curious George book

And this is the coolest thing - it's called a Glitter Ball (we think) - it's a big bouncy ball with glitter and blue dye inside...a sort of mix of a Super Ball and a snow globe that is totally cool!

And the kitchen toy was a big hit, maybe with the boys more than Kaylee ;-)

Thank you Amberger, Aunt Jackie, and Miss Sandy for being such wonderful friends and spoiling them so!

Jack's funniest carols moment - a few days ago we were listening to the radio and Mariah Carey was singing "All I want for Christmas is you." I was trying to explain it to him as she wanted her love more than presents when he pipes up: 'Maybe she wants ME!' Ah, the confidence....step aside, Mr. Cannon

Gayla Peevey's I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

Built a snowman in the GYM

The boys made snowmen at their art class today

Did I mention behavioral temptations? Do you SEE Jack's face??

They actually did well with the project, but that's the look ;-)

They are waving to Daddy, who they miss very much

Telling Daddy jokes

and Harry sending him some love!

There was a balloon artist at Kids' Nite....Jack gets his Santa on!

Their homework this week is to learn a joke to share with the class - we'll see how it goes, but they have practiced a lot. Here are their favorites: 12/09/08 Jack: What do elves learn at school? The ELFabet! Harry: What do monkeys sing at Christmastime? Jungle Bells!

Randy Travis's White Christmas Makes Me Blue

Paper chains and mistletoe - Tricky Tuesday

Santa doesn't seem to be holding his own against behavioral temptations these days, so I'm trying something that I took a half-hearted stab at last year. They seem to have the words and understanding for it more this year, so I'm jumping in with both colors! (Jack is red and Harry is green....not really, those are just the colors they chose, silly!)

For every good deed, they will earn a link in the paper chain - I'm hoping to keep it positive. It won't hurt me to see all the positives, and hopefully there will be less room for the negative behavior if they're busy building a chain. We're either going to put it on the tree or use the chains as decoration. I'll update at some point - wish us luck!

This is their good start from today :-)

And since I don't have enough on my plate with all the holiday festivities, I'm going to try to post something handy every Tuesday. Please add any great tricks of your own in the comments section or thru email....some of my favorite trick are borrowed ;-)

Neil Innes's Tinsel and String

Pretty Paper

My little elves were busy this afternoon:

Harry took his job as toy inspector very seriously

and Jack was a cutting fool, first the ribbon...
then the paper!

Whew, wrapping is hard work ;-)

Hope you're enjoying all the Christmas moments

Willie Nelson

All of the good gifts given today

Maybe it's the sense of Christmas tradition that can make total strangers into instant friends, but we met the nicest lady the other day while running some errands. She invited us to look at her Americana tree after seeing the boys' Santa hats. They fell in love with a few of her ornaments, and I couldn't believe it when she insisted that the boys take them home! People are just so generous, and we're looking for a way to thank her. Here the boys are posing with their favorite new American ornaments (you can see Harry's bell directly above his head, and Jack's flag heart near the top of the tree)

And that same afternoon we received our annual White House ornament from my dear friend, Carol - and look what it is full of....American flags and all sorts of nostalgia. We have ten of these now, and will be getting a separate tree for them at some point - they are truly gorgeous and so unique each year. Thanx, as always, Carol!

John Denver's Christmas For Cowboys (does anyone know why Destiny's Child sang this song?)

Oh, ho, the mistletoe

Jack decided this was his favorite Christmas carol today ;-) Here they are sending Daddy sweet dream kisses direct from our mistletoe :wub:

Our dear friend Fun Em had some friends over for a Holiday Open House, and they did great at their first (mostly) grown-up party! Thanx for having us over to your beautiful new home :-)

Burl Ives' Have A Holly Jolly Christmas

Christmas children live in a Christmas daydream

A lot of the magic began to unfold today, starting with Daddy helping them put up their tree. Harry also enjoyed opening some treasured decorations, including this automated music box from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Mike.

Jack's Abominable Snowman impersonation

They went to a school friend's birthday party - Happy 5th Loren!

Country boys love 'em a parade with some tractors!

And Jack loves the Statue of Liberty "more than 100, WAY more"

(his ultimate these days)

Little Boy Sings: Won't it be exciting if it snows

I had to post this picture again because of the sweet waving hand and the snow you can see on Jack's hat - it really was magical, starting just as we got to the parade this afternoon!

Jack's SoL impersonation
We put up our angels' tree

And went to their favorite pizza restaurant....

where Jack tried mozarella sticks that were reeeeaaaalllly stretchy cheeeessssy....

before getting in a little shotting practice, it's their idea of magic, not mine, remember?

And here's my idea of magic....snowflakes (tho our stars sometimes look that amazing)

Wishing you a lotta Christmas magic tonite

She Daisy's Christmas Children