Picking out the perfect ornament.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
The finishing touch.
This year we tried a new kind of cookie -- rolo pretzel delights! Super easy to make, and a huge hit with everyone.
Cutting out Christmas shapes.
Time for frosting and sprinkles!
Yummy! And the cookies were good too.
One of the kids' favorite Christmas decorations is this gaudy musical Christmas tree that we got from Costco last year. Danny is especially obsessed with it. He would wake up in the morning and go straight to the couch to turn it on and stare at it.
We added a new tradition this year: letters to Santa. Aaron asked for a lego police station, Jill asked for My Little Ponies and a doll castle, and Danny asked for a fire truck. I made sure Santa got the message.
Speaking of Santa, we caught up with him at Zoo Lights again this year. We managed to snag the first spot in line, which means we got some extra time to chat with him while his elves were getting set up.
Santa definitely got the message, loud and clear.
Never mind all those temper tantrums, these kids are definitely cute enough to get on the "nice" list.
Checking out the lights on our way out.
Another new experience this year was the Christmas concert at church. This is the first year that our church has done this, and Aaron was very excited that he was just old enough to participate. Next year, we look forward to seeing Jill up on stage too!
Cutest kid up there.
Enunciating.
Whenever I tried to sing along with him, Aaron informed me in no uncertain terms that I was singing it wrong. "Mom, it's eeen eggshell sees deh-aww." My mistake.
Of course, once we got closer to Christmas Day, there was a flurry of family time and fun. We spent the weekend before Christmas in South Bend and Christmas Day in Glenview. There were lots (and lots and lots) of presents.
There was also lots of family time, and too many fun activities to recount.
But some of the highlights included: eggnog and cookies by the fire on Christmas Eve.
Aaron getting tickets to a bulls game on his birthday!
Getting to open the personalized Pokemon cards that Daddy made -- one for each cousin on the Broyles side!
Getting to feed (and chase) the chickens at a friend's house in South Bend...and getting some farm fresh eggs to take home with us!
And last but most certainly not least, a whole day at the Winter Wonderfest on Navy Pier. We spent nearly seven hours at this indoor extravaganza. The kids got to do so many fun things, including play with friends, go ice skating (Jill and Danny's first time!), go on carnival rides, drive bumper cars, and go nuts in bouncy houses. Needless to say, everyone fell asleep pretty quickly at bedtime.
As soon as we walked through the doors the kids made a beeline for the carousel.
Holding hands with her buddy, Gwendolyn, who met up with us for part of the day.
Thrill seekers.
No fear of heights here!
Cotton candy can help kids forget how long they've been waiting in line.
"Hot Cocoa Cups" (because teacups are trademarked?)
Wheee!
Aaron loved the Tilt-A-Whirl. As it whipped us around, he kept screaming, "Mommy, I am seriously having so much fun! I love this so much!"
Ready to ride!
Snack break.
Here I come!
Holding hands in line.
After we took this picture, Danny got his head stuck in the hole and it took us a couple of minutes to get him out. He did not feel very merry after that.
Hanging on for dear life.
This is a lot harder than it looks.
Wish we would have had this one for the Christmas card.
Oh well. We found a few others that did the trick.
Only 361 days until next Christmas!
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