Saturday, December 19, 2015

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

I love this time of year.  Not only are there tons of activities planned to celebrate, it's so fun to watch Jackson (and Cole soon, I'm sure) get really excited for Christmas.  I remember how excited I'd get for Santa to come and the magic of it everything that comes with the season, and I love seeing him experience that.

We've enjoyed lots activities over the last few weeks to get us into the holiday spirit. 

Things kicked off right after Thanksgiving with some Black Friday/holiday shopping.




Corey put up out outdoor lights, with the help of some cute little elves.
 

We decorated the inside of the house and the Christmas tree.


The boys went to see Santa and we didn't have to wait in any lines, since we happened to show up during his break. With just a few minutes before he returned, we grabbed some hot chocolate and prepared for our visit.  Jackson loved sitting on Santa's lap (and had extra time, since there was still no line), and chatting with him while we got situated. Cole started screaming the second I set him down, which is exactly what happened with Jackson when he was this age.  Santa was great though, and even took a few shots pretending to cry along with Cole.







Elvis returned this year, to keep tabs on both boys for Santa.  The boys love waking up and seeing what he's up to, and then eating their advent calendar chocolate.  (Cole can't get enough chocolate these days, often asking for more of his advent chocolate in the evening.)

 
We ordered our holiday cards super early since we planned to use photos from our family photo session, but it was fun to address them near the tree.  And the boys loved riding around, delivering them to our neighbors.



The boys have enjoyed more than their fair share of hot chocolate, and especially loved when Aunt Anya sent them snow globes and hot chocolate fixin's of their own. 




J was so excited to return to Snowflake Lane again this year and Cole enjoyed his first experience.  We went on a rainy weeknight but it worked out perfectly as it kept the crowds to a minimum, leaving us with a great view and access to many of the characters.  Cole especially loved the drummers we saw at the end, and both boys loved their Wendy's frostie on our way back to the car.
 






The boys enjoyed their first time watching one of the best holiday movies ever - Christmas vacation.
 

The Gossetts invited us over for dinner and Christmas cookie decorating. Cole could hard wait to get the cookie in his mouth so decorating didn't last long for him. Jackson had such a blast decorating, he wanted to do it again at home the following weekend. 



Don't mind Cole - just using the selfie function on my phone to clean sprinkles off his face.






Last night, we enjoyed the holiday party at Hot Stove Society. It was nice to get out on a date night, and to catch up with Corey's co-workers.
 



With a few more fun plans over the next few days, Christmas will be here before we know it!


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