Favorite Holiday Memories

There were a few things the kids did that made this holiday season so much fun:

*Noah's obsession of Candy Canes. He only ate one candy cane before Christmas, but was completely obsessed with them. And in Noah language it was: "Can Caaaaaaane".

*Heidi singing Christmas songs. She could pick up on just about any song and would sing it over and over. One of her favorites was Ruldoph the Red Nose Reindeer.

*Noah singing Jingle Bells: "jiji bells, jiji bells, jiji way"

*Watching Heidi take over 2 hours to make her gingerbread house.

*Noah learning about Santa Clause. The first time we saw Santa (right before Thanksgiving) Noah was so scared he wouldn't even look at Santa. Not too much after that he loved Santa and every time he would see a Santa he would yell "Tanta".

*Watching the kids get so excited each morning over moving the snowflake on the advent calendar.

*Taking the kids to look at Christmas lights in Austin. There were a few houses that went above and beyond decorating. We were very sad that the Trail of Lights was not up this year (a yearly tradition for us), so we had to make due with seeing a few houses.

*Seeing Noah's disappointed face when he opened a gift and it was clothes instead of a toy, priceless.


*Watching Heidi pick a gift at the store, put it on the ground, and say: "here Noah, pick this gift out for me."

*Hearing Heidi say "pink bike with a bell" whenever asked what she wanted for Christmas. It's a good thing Santa came through with her request. The reason she wanted a bell is so she can warn people she is coming so they can get out of her way.

*Hearing Noah say the words: "Pipmas Tree" and "Merry Pipmas".

*Watching Heidi rip through all the presents as quickly as possible without even looking at what was in the box.



It is so much fun watching Christmas through their eyes. Having little kids at Christmas time is so magical and wonderful. These are just a few of the great memories from Christmas 2010!

Christmas 2010

I loved Christmas this year, it was full of memories. The kids were full of excitement over the entire holiday. Our Christmas started weeks ago when we went to Houston to see my 10 year old nephew in his first school play, A Dickens of a Christmas. It was a very cute play and I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go see him. While we were there we exchanged gifts with my sister and her kids. Noah's favorite gift was a dinosaur piggy bank. He sat on the ground for an hour putting coins in over and over. I took the plug out of the bottom so the coins would go straight through, it kept him busy for a long time.

The next weekend we traveled to Ft. Worth to spend the weekend with Ben's parents. We attempted to let Heidi and Noah share a room, but that did not go over so well. We exchanged gifts with "Nana and Papi" and had a great time there. Heidi got 2 new pairs of boots and has not worn any other shoes since receiving those.

Finally came Christmas at home. On Tuesday we went and looked at Christmas lights in Austin. There were some streets and houses that went all out. One guy takes 2 weeks off of work and devotes his 2 weeks to decorating the outside of his house. It was absolutely amazing. We'll go back there for sure in the next couple of years. Wednesday morning I took the kids to Walgreens to pick out presents for each other. Heidi picked out a little stuffed puppy and then found a little kitty cat that she wanted, so she put it on the ground and said "here Noah, pick this out for me." So of course I got the kitty cat as a gift from Noah to Heidi. She definitely knows what she wants.

Friday was Christmas eve and it was full of fun. We started the day by baking cookies for Santa, or as Noah says: "Tanta". I was really surprised at how well the kids did with helping get the cookies ready. We mande chocolate chip cookies, because Santa at the mall said that was his favorite. The kids rolled the dough into balls or some type of ball shape and plopped them down on the cookie sheet. And of course they got to test out the cookies once they were baked, just to make sure they were Santa ready. After that we decorated a cake for our birthday party for Jesus. The kids poured sprinkles all over the cake and had a blast doing it. After nap time we had dinner, then sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate his cake, and then got to open a few gifts. On Christmas Eve we exchange family gifts. The kids got gifts from each other and one gift from mommy and daddy.

Finally Christmas morning had come. When I went into Heidi's room to get her she said, "Santa didn't come." I asked why she thought that and she said, "because it's really far away." The look on her face was so sad. Then I told her that I had been downstairs and Santa did come and left presents for her and Noah. Her face completely changed and she was wide awake after that. I went and got Noah and all 4 of us headed downstairs. I wish I had been downstairs to see the excitement on her face when she saw the pink bike with a bell that Santa had left for her. That was what she had been asking for for months. Noah opened a gift and immediately wanted to play with it. Heidi on the other hand ripped open all her gifts before Noah was done with his first.

After all the gifts had been opened and we had breakfast my parents came over for the day. They brought in all their gifts and the kids had a blast with all the new things they got. We are very thankful for all the family that made the holidays a blast. The kids really enjoyed their Christmas and are all ready looking forward to Santa coming next year.