Anna at her singing program.
Thys and Sophie, the elves, at Becky's Christmas program.
When we were finally all out of school (one day before Christmas Eve), we went down to the Grand America Hotel to "do the windows." In every window part of a story was told, and the kids had to find a clue to complete a card they could hand in at the end for a cookie at the fancy bakery. We had a good time, until Thys took sick at about window 14. Then we couldn't get home fast enough--at least he couldn't. This was a real gingerbread house--amazing! The inside was even decorated. My favorite part was the green and red tiled floor made from rice krispie treats.
A fancy hotel tree.
Anna is a great help! She made the chocolate pretzel treats this year. . .
and did a much neater job than I would have done!
Christmas Eve plans were adjusted since Thys was sick, and we stayed home by ourselves. We had a nice dinner together, and decorated sugar cookies for Santa.
After dinner and cookies, we let the kids open their presents from Bupa and Mimi, which all happened to be games. How convenient! We opened them up and then played them all until bedtime!
The Christmas tree and gifts right before I went to bed!
Sophie's new dolls, blankets, and sleeping bag.
Anna dressing up her American Girl Doll in riding clothes for the new horse!
And the Fijit. Darn that Santa Claus.
Mr. T's new tools and project. I think the adrenalin from Christmas morning got him through, but he crashed around 11:00, and he and Mel spent the rest of the day in the recliner. The girls and I went down to Grandma and Grandpa's to deliver cousins gifts. Not such a great day for our sick T and Papa. Thanks, Pops!
Anna got Just Dance for the Wii, and found that her Fijit made a good dance partner.
We got Legos from Grandma and Grandpa. I don't think the kids were super thrilled at first, but since then the Legos have been well-used! Lots of fun!
Once we thought Thys was well, we went to Jungle Jim's with the cousins from out of town. Unfortunately, turned out that Thys wasn't well, just in between phases. He was just starting the pink eye phase, but didn't realize it and exposed a whole playland full of kids--oops.
We figured Thys's eyes were well enough to venture out for an evening since he wouldn't be playing with other kids except our own. The kids had been wanting to go to Chuck-a-Rama (who knows why) because we had free kid's meals from Aunt Steph. Well, we went. It wasn't quite as big of a hit as the kid's imagined, but it was at least dinner!
No worries--she didn't eat it all.
The "don't take my picture" guy.
After Chuck-a-Rama downtown, we went to see the lights. It was such a warm night that we didn't even wear our coats. We used the stroller to carry them all, and the little frog ran free!
