Christmas Morning

Christmas morning came! Zoe was the first child to get up.

She has some snuggle time with her Pop Pop :)

Ellen gets up and checks her stocking!

One by one, the gifts under the tree get opened......

What have we here??

Ellen loves this movie! From Gina

That's a favorite!!

She's happy :)

Ellen gives her Dad a new shirt. 

Aidan is thrilled with Nurf guns and 

Zoe with a lot of Princess dolls :)

Ellen checks out her new fitness watch. 

After the gifts were opened we relaxed.

Zoe asked Pop Pop to put her tea cart together. She's showing him the instructions :)

Gina sets up her tablet. 

Aidan and his dad set up a cool race track. 

Zoe paints. 

Nana relaxed for awhile too. Then it was time to get ready for the next segment of our day.....the big family dinner!

Christmas Eve

Christmas at our house had many segments....,we'll start with Christmas Eve.

Aidan and Zoe, dressed in new nightgown and Pj's, open a family gift. 

Zoe tries to peek :)

What is it, what is it??

Zoe thinks she knows and is VEArY excited!

A pop corn popper!!

Then the posing began...

Oh, I love these kids!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

It's been a wonderful day so far. More family fun to come!

Christmas with the Scott's

Christmas celebration has begun at our house. Monday evening Christy's family, the Scott's, gathered here for dinner and gift giving. They invited us to join them for dinner. It was just me and Hubby... Gina and Ellen were working. Katie made the best ham....I'm not kidding when I say it was the best I ever had! The whole meal was delicious and we had the best time being with them. Hubby and I left to get Ellen as they were beginning to open gifts.

When we returned the kids were playing with new toys, some adults were cleaning up the mess... There ALWAYS is a wonderful "mess" with gift giving! Some were posing for pictures. This family loves to include crazy poses and I wish I had been quick enough with snapping a few.

Here are a few pictures I did manage to take.... unfortunately I didn't get a pic of all of them -

Looking at photographs... Christy's mother Karen, sister in law Katie, sister Laura.

Just relaxing!

Sibs Donna and Ralph join in looking at pictures. 

We really enjoyed having them here!

Aidan wanted to wear his new PJ's to bed...

He loves them! 

I asked him to strike a pose...

He did :)

Merry Christmas to the Scott family! 

Christmas Month

Christmas is more than a day. It's a month :) It has to be because it's too much fun to last for only a day!

I wrapped up about 13 Christmas theme books for Aidan and Zoe to open before the big day. They have been enjoying this. Most of the books are story books but I also included an activity book for each of them.

Aidan chooses a package to open. 

He thinks he knows what it is...

Yes! A Mad Libs!!

Another day.... It's Zoe's turn. 

She's thrilled with her activity coloring book :)

On another day (a day that Zoe had an earache.... the water bottle on couch) Zoe opened a book with the song White Christmas. We watched that movie earlier this month and the kids loved it!

I must share this picture of our youngest Grand. 

Precious Carson is 4 months old. He just melts me!!

The big day is very close. There are still some things to do....I must get to it!!

Happy Monday to you!

Inexpensive Decorations and a Recipe

As I've been looking around our home today.... That is, when I took a break from this -

Making onion pretzels

And taking a break from this -

Yikes, I make a mess !!

I do love to wrap gifts!

Anyway, as I was saying, I realized that some of my favorite decorations this year are very inexpensive. 

These came from Dollar Tree -

They came in packs of two for $1! 

I hung 4 on the front window in the living room and one on the old vanity that Christy convinced me to keep. Someday we might paint it. Someday :)

I also like these wreaths -

There are two hanging on the railing at the loft. I think I should go back and get a third one. 

They are simple tinsel wreaths which cost $1.

 If they only last a year, who cares? 

I think I've shown you this before - 

I love these little tree bells! The children do too. I have a red one on the railing in the basement and two green trees on the railings to the second floor. 

I like this too. I've had it for several years and am enjoying it in our half bath this year. This is not a Dollar Tree purchase :) The lit branches came from Boscov's, the greenery from Micheal's, and the jar from my attic. I just changed out the batteries today so it's more brightly lit than it's been. 

Christmas is coming! It's almost here! And I love it!!

Here's the recipe for Onion Pretzels...

1 bag Wege pretzels

I packet Lipton onion soup

1 stick plus 3T butter, melted

Place pretzels on a jelly roll pan. Sprinkle onion soup over pretzels. Pour melted butter over all. Gently stir to be sure the butter is distributed evenly. Bake at 250 degrees for 30 min. Stir at least twice during baking. Cool and enjoy!!

I always leave the pretzels cool on the pan do they can soak up any butter that may remain. Store in a covered dish or plastic bag. Warning, once you start eating these, it's hard to stop! 

I made 4 batches so far today. 1 more to go. Some will be eaten at our Christmas but lots are being given away.