Pre-Christmas Fun

Ok - only mid-January and I'm ALMOST done catching up with the holidays.  Please forgive me!

But I don't want to miss documenting this in our family blog.  Because while the holidays FLEW by - we did a lot and I don't want to forget all of it!

After Thanksgiving fun, December came and our neighborhood does a fun little "sleigh" ride around our neighborhood with horses and a few hay filled "sleighs" that we ride on.  It's always a great time!  This year however when we visited Santa - Maddie wanted NOTHING to do with this Santa.  Very very different from last year when Charlie wanted nothing to do with Santa and Maddie was all about it!

After Santa, some cookies and hot chocolate, we headed out on the first ride - you can see everyone cooperated for the picture, but it was very fun getting to see all the neighborhood lights and get pulled by the horses! (PS that cute little boy in the pic is our neighbor's son, Cal.  She was taking the picture of us and I was making sure he didn't scoot off!)

We also did a lot of riding our bike inside and walking around in our underwear (thankfully the kids, not Jimmy and I) in December...

And of COURSE - what would December be without the annual Carter Classic Christmas party.  Jimmy moved it this year from Friday to Saturday (per my begging), but unfortunately, that meant it was in competition with lots more holiday parties during the season, so attendance was way down.  Jimmy was a little bummed - but I thought it was still a fabulous time and to all those who were able to make it out - we had a blast and thanks for joining us in this tradition!!

Charlie - as you can see in the picture below - was just having a grand old time.  HA.

And of course, what would Christmas season be without a fun little kids musical at church?  Jimmy was skeptical if Charlie would actually participate, but when he was singing the songs at home before we even signed him up to perform (after learning them at Sunday School)...I knew he would be fine.  Even though Charlie seems outgoing, events like this make him so nervous (poor guy!).  So he was super shy, didn't do any of the moves, but did stand there and sing!! We were proud!

After his big debut at church - his preschool had a holiday "show" for parents in addition to their holiday party and book exchange.  Charlie was front and center....but again didn't do any motions ---- but did rock the singing!!!  These kids are just so stinking cute!

And of course I took a video in typical mom fashion..

This year was harder because mom was stretched thin between the two classrooms.  After the show, I left Charlie and went to see what Maddie was up to.  They were getting ready for their book exchange and then to EAT!

And who's not excited about a full plate of food!!?

Cookie double fisting - that's my girl!

Then she and I headed back to Charlie's room for their snack and book exchange!  They had a great time celebrating with their school friends!

Then as December started to wind down - I was sad because there were still a few things that we never got around to doing.  Because let's get real....December is CRAZY.  And work got crazy and that meant a tired mama...so less energy to plan and execute all these fun holiday things.  

But at the end of December, we did cram a couple last minute things in and I quickly realized - my kids would care less about all the "activities" I feel like we need to do and more just want to spend quality time with us!!

Our final Christmas fun things?  We headed to Deanna Rose to see the awesome light show.  I almost forgot that on the way there we stopped at QuikTrip to get some fun snacks and drinks and then realized that neither of us had our wallets or ANY money, so we just used some change to get each of the kids a sucker!!  But again - they were happy with that!  And as always, the light show was so fun!

While we had seen Santa early December at our neighborhood sleigh ride - I didn't "count" that and really wanted to make our annual trip to Bass Pro shop to get a picture there.  So I got the crew out on Christmas Even morning and went in our PJs to bass pro to see what the wait for Santa looked like.  To my surprise, the wait was only 45 minutes - so we headed home, changed their clothes and headed back to get a picture with St. Nick!!

While no one was smiling....I called it a success!

And while this December/holiday season was just craziness from illness, to busy time at work to some sleepless nights - we did have a good time being with each other and our families and friends.  And remembering the reason for the whole season, Jesus being born!!!

And one last time - sweet Maddie cakes and her favorite glasses!