Christmas always starts early in the McPeak household. We start decorating either on Thanksgiving Day or the day after. Our elves, Josie and Joseph, make there appearance those same days and we are in full holiday mode with our last bite of turkey!
Emma and I went into Lowes for something and couldn't resist some snuggles with their huge Christmas inflatables.
Loved this "oh what fun" shirt for this cutie!
Josie and Joseph made their appearance the morning after Thanksgiving. Emma was so excited and Cash excited to help with all that goes into the magic of Christmas.
Arianna and I went for our annual Black Friday outing and this was the best thing I bought. The kids wanted their own tree and we decorated it with all of the ornaments they have made over the years. Only a few were store bought. I am thinking that by the end of E's elementary years the tree will be full of nothing but their handmade ornaments. Of course by then the tree may not be as wanted. I ponder.
We went to Fiesta Texas so the kids could see all of the beautiful lights. I can't say its worth the money, as me and the kids don't ride roller coasters, but it was fun! We got to see Santa! Side note on this little excursion - Ben wanted to ride a roller coaster but more than that we wanted Cash to give it a try. We tried to find a roller coaster that was rated low on the scare chart. I can't remember the name of the one we found but Ben and Cash headed up the path when Cash decided to turn around and come back. I gave him a little bit of hard time about it as I just knew he was missing out. Well he clearly had more sense than me. Ben came walking down the path after riding the roller coaster and was pumping his fists in the air from the excitement. That should have been my first clue but nope! So I tell Cash to stay with Emma and I was going to ride it with Ben. I did....AND WHAT A MISTAKE! I literally thought I was going to orphan our children. Worst experience every! I was so made the entire ride while Ben was laughing hysterically. He had no idea that I would think that it was too rough or as scary as I thought it was. Never again on two counts...never will I encourage Cash to ride one and never will I ride one again.
I love that Cash's elementary school puts up a Christmas tree right in the foyer for everyone to see.
The elves leave sweet treats for E and C.
The kids and I met up with Norma and Caleb to see the Zoo lights. So pretty! In one section of the zoo the lights are in sync with music and we got Cash on video doing his dance (name?) where he moves his arms back and forth super fast. It was hilarious because the video looks like we sped it up as we was completely in sync with the music. There was an older kid there that started doing the same dance. They were in a dance stand off.
The club for brunch with Santa.
Stephanie brought the kids over to build ginger bread houses. This one is Luke's...he decided it was better to eat the icing than build with it. I agree!
Cash was pretty meticulous with his and it turned out great!
Leighton's was turning out super cute and yummy!
My girl's was picture perfect! She had a little help but it was looking very fancy as she would say.
Nothing like a cozy bed by the Christmas tree. So cozy she fell fast asleep.
Ben's producer in Nashville made this beautiful cutting board for me. He made one for my mom as well. They are too pretty to cut on!
Every year we do "Christmas Eve" boxes for the kids. I got them new boxes this year as I see Cash's needed to be bigger. His pj pants are getting bigger. He will soon be in the junior section and no longer boys. They get a movie, snacks and new pj's. This year there wasn't a movie that had come out on dvd that Cash was asking for so I decided to get him an oldie but a goodie! Ferris Bueller's Day Off!!!! Classic and one I knew he'd like.
A family tradition continues with my parents coming over for tamales and our gift exchange. We like Christmas morning to be about the kids.
It was time for the kids to go to bed but not before putting out cookies and milk for Santa. After we did sweet E put on her new sleeping mask and was out like a light. She was so excited about Santa coming I am surprised that she fell asleep as fast as she did.
This was the after.
We thought Cash would stay up with us and help put the gifts out but he decided he was ready to go to sleep when E did. So after she was fast asleep we put out their gifts. This year I had to wrap Cash's stuff or he would have seen it before it "was time". Geesh...the complexity of it all. Trying to hide that particular wrapping paper or explain to E why his were wrapped and hers weren't..exhausting..but so fun!
They were both up bright and early the next morning. Cash got up before Emma surprisingly and they both ran in our room. I think it was about 5:30am. They dove right in!
The big toy right now for little girls E's age are LOL dolls. They come in these balls so you don't know which doll you are getting. The idea is to try and collect them all.
I don't know why I didn't get pictures when my parents were over as I normally do. We had our regular Christmas meal...gumbo and potato salad. We headed to Chad and Rochelle's ranch Christmas afternoon to spend the night.
This happened after Santa's gifts were torn through as apparently he was so exhausted from all the hard work! HA!
Emma was nothing short of cute in her little snow hat! I could eat her!
These deer almost ate right out of Rochelle's hand....if Chad had not blown the horn to scare them off they would have!!
This year I decided to skip doing family pictures and use the beautiful pics I took of the kids before summer time. I thought they turned out so precious and were perfect for our holiday card! Merry Christmas!!
