Christmas Prep and Fun

When we are in town we kick off our Christmas festivities the weekend after Thanksgiving. “Picking” a tree is one of our first stops. This year’s selection was made in the back of a semi truck in the Costco parking lot. As you can see from the smiles, the kids are thrilled with this tradition (or don’t know any better ;)).

Cooper getting a boost from Daddy to get the star on top.

Next stop is the poinsettia tree display at Molbaks where we also go to make the annual visit to see Santa.

It took a lot of negotiations, but after a Cooper photo and full family photo we were able to get Nicholas to stand with Santa. They both asked Santa for a leaf blower. Santa shared that was the first time he has been asked for one of those 🙂 I love seeing this Santa, his look reminds me of my late Uncle Ted and the boys have seen the same Santa each year. It is also fun to see him during other times of the year tending to his other jobs at Molbaks, I always smile and say thanks for making Christmas so magical.

Getting the family together between holiday chaos is tough to schedule, but is amazing and we really look forward to it each year. Cheers to extended family!

Costco gingerbread houses. I will never go back to trying to build and decorate one again! We love this tradition and are always amazed at the amount of candy consumed in the making process and that disappears each day when little fingers pass by their decorated houses.

Celebrating Daddy’s birthday with a boy-made rum cake.

Making annual ornaments for gifts to the family.

The work holiday party, this was our first one with Google and we had a blast. They had an amazing drink called the snowball that I still need to figure out how to replicate.

Getting together with our toddler group crew. It started with 8 kids and keeps getting bigger as they gain siblings.

A day in Seattle with Nene to see the Gingerbread houses at the Sheraton, ride the monorail, play on a new playground at Seattle Center.

Celebrating Christmas morning with Nene, Grandpa and Grandma. Santa did deliver the custom made leaf blowers that met the criteria of really blowing air, but not at a level that can cause destruction…thanks for assisting Santa, Daddy!