All is calm, all is bright..., Part One

I love checking all of my friends wonderful blogs and finding that most of them are doing the same kinds of posts that I am - "Holiday Catch-Up." Over the last month we have had many fun and memorable events and, gratefully, I have had my camera for most of them. Don't leave home without it, I always say. Enjoy the pictures and notes. I hope that your holiday was as magical as ours. God bless you all!

One absolutely beautiful afternoon we decided to make cookies. The boys love getting little helping jobs from me and the had the most important job of all on this day - unwrap all of the chocolate kisses and smush them into the peanut butter cookies. They did a great job, even if there were more kisses in their tummies than on the cookies.
Sunday would not be Sunday without a nap. I just don't think this is what Damon had in mind. All three of them fell asleep on the couch in a wonderful pile of boys. Can you believe they stayed like this for over an hour?
For the first time in I don't know how long, we had a white Christmas. I felt like I received my Christmas gift early as we spent much of the month of December under a thick blanket of white. Once I got used to driving in the snow in the early hours to take Jonah to and from school, it became a wonderful treat.
Our big kindergartner, Jonah, was in his first school program for Christmas. He did an awesome job. The kids learned all kinds of new holiday songs, including a few Hanuka songs. I loved it when Jonah ran around the house singing about the "festival of lights" and the draedel.

I loved looking at our Christmas tree at night when it glowed so perfectly. I took this picture as Damon and I were going to bed on Christmas Eve. I made a promise to myself that this year I was not going to be running around frantically the night before Christmas, cooking, wrapping, etc. So, I didn't. We spent the day together with our family and stayed up watching movies and having snacks (wink to my cousins...). It was a perfect day, just the way I wanted it to be.
For Christmas, Santa filled a large Rubbermaid tub with costumes for Jonah and Cole. I just have to say, Santa is a genius for hitting the after Halloween sale at Target...
We've discovered that it is the quality, not the quantity that counts in our kids gifts. Once Santa finds and delivers that one hugely desired item, the rest of the gifts don't even matter. For Cole this year it was a Jabba the Hut toy. For Jonah, Japanese Pokemon toys. Believe me, Santa had to get very creative to find these.
Speaking of creative, I feel fully within my rights as a daughter-in-law to post this picture on my blog. Mostly because I know that Damon's mom, Cindy, never reads it. And who, you may ask, gave her this lovely little item? Well that would be Damon's dad, her ex-husband. Wink, Wink...

Well, stay tuned everyone. This is only the beginning of our holiday memories. However, my kids are reminding me that I have been on the computer for quite a while. Time to take a break. Tune in next time when our heroine will be posting more holiday fun in a single bound!!