The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It goes without saying that kids absolutely love Christmas.  Being the parent of young children at Christmas time, however, is not so openly praised. What a blast! You forget how fun it is to believe in Santa. That little elf on the shelf is down right creepy. When he first " arrived " this year Bailey was very aware of him and his back story. Natalie marched right over to him and said, "Nope, him pretend. " After we all shrieked at her (in unison) not to touch him, and she started balling, we told her how he has limited magic to go back to Santa every night and that he has to sit quietly untouched and observe us. That seems incredibly odd and scary as I write this, but all craziness and irrationality suddenly become logical at Christmas time...think massive amounts of baking and spending tremendous amounts of money on gift cards (aka cash swap). The fun part for the girls was the game of hide 

-and-seek for elf every morning.

Bailey went to bed each night making some sort of remark about how she couldn't wait to find him in the morning. We are improving, by necessity of course, and we only forgot to relocate the little dude once this year. Not too shabby. 

Santa was a little on the cheap side this year. The girls still don't really have the stamina to open many gifts, and they don't have the paper ripping skills and speed me and Jared had perfected. They got an air hockey table and a few bean bag chairs. The stuffed owls they got were a big hit, and Bailey has loved all the crafting kits. So much fun for me; the glitter stickers and snow globe kits were a freakin hoot. 

All in all, it was fantastic. Their enthusiasm and joy were unmatched. With the beautiful snow, warm fires and friends and family around, it was my most favorite Christmas ever.