'Tis the season

After last year's very sad tree we decided to hold off a little longer this year. We all went to Home Depot after dinner Saturday night and picked out a tree (in the cold). On Sunday Chris put up the new LED lights I bought and ran out, of course. While I took Ella to the third birthday party of the weekend he and B went to Super T to buy more lights but they were out, of course. Chris was leaving for Denver on Monday so I went to the fourth Target and found more lights and finished up the lights after the kids were fast asleep. Finally, on Tuesday during Bennett's nap Ella & I decorated the Christmas tree while drinking hot cocoa and listening to the "Holly" station on XM. Last year she wouldn't drink it but this year she has figured out that she does take after her mommy and has a sweet tooth after all!! Is she really going to pass up a drink topped with marshmallows?!?!

Lighted tree

Ella hanging the first ornament

Enjoying hot cocoa

Our tree!

Last weekend the kids were invited to Leighton's fourth birthday party. He is one of Ella's good friends. They've been friends since they were tiny babies. We met in January after their first Christmas at church. The past two years he's had Santa come to his party. Last year Ella was skeptical about Santa but this year she was ready to sit in his lap and tell him what she wants for Christmas. I was prepared for Bennett to cry immediately as most children do at his age but surprisingly he gave Santa a big smile. He didn't last as long as Ella but he did last long enough for a couple pictures. We're going to see Santa again this weekend with daddy. Hopefully round two will be successful as well.

Meet our elf! We introduced the kids, ok really just Ella, to Elf on the Shelf this year. It's a great book that comes with the cute elf. The elf has magical powers and watches the kids during the day and then reports to Santa every night on their behavior. I love it! After you read the book for the first time your child chooses a name for their elf, you go to the website and send the name in and then print out a certificate. We came up with all sorts of names and Ella wanted to name her elf Aggie. You know who was thrilled about that! So far Aggie has only forgotten to find a new location once - opps! It's pretty fun to watch her look for him each morning.