Christmas at Our House

We had our family Christmas at our house Saturday evening. We wanted to have our family time before our trip. It was a fun evening.

We didn't get out our 7ft pre-lit tree this year. Instead, we opted for the 2ft fiber optic tree we had the year Mom was on bedrest with the twins. We had just enough room for the gifts and a few manger scenes. It's hard to see but please take note of the BLOOMING Christmas cactus on the top of the shelf. I've had that plant for years. This is the first year it decided to have more than two blooms. Maybe I'll take a close up photo for a later post. :)

Here they are...eager with anticipation!

Nana made the girls matching aprons. B got a new H*t Wh**ls. They were big hits! We've had hours of playing Little House on the Prair*e. We moved the toy kitchen upstairs today so now they play "restaurant". Fun, fun!

The girls got "each other" Christmas socks. You can see in the photo on C's if you look closely. They light up when they move. E thought it was soooooooooo funny! H got some too. B got a t-shirt that does the same thing.

Our big "surprise" for all 4 kids was a glass mug. When we went to the Renaissance Festival back in October, we watched a glass blower make this mug from beginning to end. He made it clear that you could not purchase that mug because it had to be in the "oven" for 14 hours. So...Dad, being the sly guy he is, found a way to get back to that booth while I was entertaining the kids. He paid for it and had it shipped to us. They were clueless! For the past two months, he would bring it up every now and then. Every time, H would say, "I wish we could have bought that mug. That was cool! I wish it didn't have to sit in that oven for so long." Little did she know...the mug was sitting in a box in our closet. Those who know my dear hubby well know how very hard it is for him to keep a secret. So I hid the mug from HIM so he wouldn't break and give it to them early!

C took this photo but you can see the mug up close here.

The best thing about opening gifts when you're 3...the bubble wrap! C sat in Dad's lap for quite a while popping bubbles. Guess the mug was worth the $$ for the bubble wrap!

E gave Mom a new hair-do while Mom cut tags off socks and opened impossible packages.

Now they are counting the days until "the real Christmas". I have said, "No room!" more times than I can count as the twins act out the story of Baby Jesus. Such a fun time of year!

Have a blessed CHRISTmas!