We survived Christmas!

It's hard to believe another Christmas has gone by and we are into 2017.   I am happy to report that we all managed to stay healthy through the holidays this year - thankfully.  The school break was only a week long, but we managed to get in some fun times!

We started the season with our annual trip right after Thanksgiving, to the Festival of Trees.  Jocelyn asked Santa to "Surprise" her this year!

Jocelyn's Girl Scout troop was busy!  They watched the Nutcracker on Ice, went to see the play Mary Poppins, and sang Christmas carols at a local nursing home.

We decorated the tree and topped it with Grandma's special angel.  Santa sent Jocelyn her Christmas letter.  This year she read the whole thing on her own!

Last year we were so disappointed to miss out on baking Christmas cookie with our friends, but this year we were able to make it happen.  The cookies were very yummy, but our friends are very messy bakers.

On Christmas Eve we made our usual preparations.  We put out the snacks for the reindeer - exactly 9 peanut butter balls, 9 baby carrots and some oats.  And Santa got yummy cookies and milk!  Christmas morning included lots of Minecraft, but that's no surprise (stay tuned for birthday preparations!).

The rest of our winter break was focused on fun times with friends.  The kids had a pajama and pancakes party at Ms. Nicki's house on Wednesday...

And we celebrated an early kid friendly New Years Eve with the Millers and the Haas Families, complete with games and play time and ringing in the new year at 8:00pm!

These families have been our dear friends for many years now.  We met in the MOMs club and have continued to share special times together.  We're so lucky to have them in our lives.  Happy New Year Everyone!!