Christmas at the Zobe's

My first Christmas with just us. It was quiet,relaxing, nice and non rushed. I pulled the pre-wrapped presents out around 10 on Christmas eve, lovingly placed stuff around the tree and was in bed by 10:45. I liked that. Mason was up a little after 7 and the other 2 were quick to follow. We opened presents and had a great morning.

My intent was to "wrap" the entrance to the living room hoping that they would tear thru it like they do at football games. Not so. They lifted the corners and went inside. Such good behaved children. :) Not wanting to destroy anything that isn't theirs.

Yep, Nat got a Barbie jeep. It was, of course, a big hit.

Don't you absolutely just adore this little pixie horse bike??!!!! Thanks mom and dad! He loves it!

How I love this kid! His own fishing pole with hat and tackle box. Look out lakes here we come!! And I do mean we as in Tyler doesn't care much for fishing and I think it's awesome! Night crawlers? Umm yeah, I might have a hard time with that one.

As for me, I wanted a new pair of slippers.

Thanks Jean and Maren! My new ones are nice and toasty.

And so that was Christmas. I hope you all had a great one. Now, onto a great new year!!!

Yeah, I know...

Yeah, I know it's December 14th. I know I didn't blog in November. I know I'm behind. But I am done with Christmas-shopping, presents, the dinner everything. Still a little unsure where to buy silly bands, but hoping that the other presents will through the boy off the scent. I am excited for Christmas this year. I am excited for the gift from Santa that will hopefully be a tradition for a while to come. We have The Polar Express book on CD and it seems that we listen to that story everytime we get in the car. I decided to buy one silver bell and put it by itself in a box. I'll slip it under the tree towards the back and when the kids find it and open it- there will lay a silver bell from Santa Claus's sleigh. With a note attached "Always believe in the spirit of Christmas." Mr.C

Genius I know!!! Love it! Love the idea. Thanks Chris van Allsburg. You wrote a great book!

I won't recap November really. It came, it went. My parents came for Thanksgiving which was fabulous. I love family so much. My dear sweet friend moved her family to San Diego. That was hard and came with flowing tears. Both from me and the kids.

But now we have a reason to go to sunny CA.

And November saw a new family member. A very cute, small, family member that we have given the name Sam.

Sam is our Elf on the shelf. This cute guy watches my kids behavior and then flies to the North Pole to tell Santa how they were that day. Then he watches from a new spot. Genius! I love Sam. He has saved many a tantrum and fit throwing since coming. Is there a year round elf? Does anyone know? If there is please tell me so I will purchase him right away. And that's us so far. Oh, and we got, what is in my humble opinion, the most perfect Christmas tree ever! Real, smelly, and full. Love it. Love Christmas!.