Christmas 2013

We had a nice Christmas season. We visited Santa, mailed letters to Santa, decorated the Christmas tree, made a gingerbread house, delivered neighbor gifts, ate candy from the advent calendar and did all sorts of other fun holiday activities.

Celebrating Christmas with a 3 year old was so much fun. Lilly was very excited and asked me daily if it was Christmas Eve. I had to show her where it was on the calendar each time. She kept telling people Santa was going to land on her roof, sang ‘Jungle Bells’ and ‘Santa is Coming to Town’ nonstop, and watched The Polar Express more times than I can count.

Because of Lilly’s obsession with The Polar Express the only thing she wanted from Santa was a bell from Santa’s sleigh. She also told me at one point she wanted ‘something that glows in the dark that goes in the sky’. What that meant – who knows. She only asked for it once.

On Christmas Eve Tyson and Lilly started the day sledding.  It was a really cold day so they didn't last long. 

We made Santa cookies and had a delicious dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Our family does like the Texas Roadhouse; however, it would not normally be our Christmas Eve choice. The only restaurants in the Quad Cities open on Christmas Eve are the chained restaurants. Our choices were The Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, Olive Garden, Chili’s, Applebee’s, and Texas Roadhouse – we chose the Roadhouse.

After dinner we took a drive to look at Christmas lights. Not very many people hang lights on their houses here. You have to do a lot of looking to see a handful of houses. Lilly got excited each time though so it was worth it.

When we got home the kids opened Christmas Eve presents. I got Lilly a nightgown and slippers. She continuously talked about her friends slippers so I thought she would like a pair. I am happy to say I was right. I think it was one of her favorite presents and she wears them all night and day. I tried to explain to her that they should be placed on the ground next to the bed at night but she likes to sleep with them either on her feet or on her pillow. Bennett got a stuffed alligator. His favorite part of the gifts was the pretty ribbons.

Before bed we hung our stockings, built a fire, put the cookies out and then Tyson read The Night Before Christmas to the kids. Lilly went to bed easy and didn’t wake up until around 8:00 when Tyson woke her up because he was excited.   

Before we got to the tree we stopped to take pictures on the stairs. Lilly was too excited and did not cooperate. When she went into the room she just kind of stopped and stared wide-eyed at everything. Santa left his bag and it was full of presents, he ate all of the cookies and left a note and the stocking were full. We decided to read the note first and then she dug into her stocking.

I am adding all of the stair pictures because I think it is funny watching Lilly hanging on to Bennett

We had a fun time opening presents; however, Lilly did get distracted playing with some makeup she got and she couldn’t seem to focus on opening more presents. I finally had to take it away from her so we could move on.

Lilly - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Candy Land, highchair, books, flash cards, play makeup, Little Mermaid from Grandma and Grandpa, play food she shares with Bennett, and of course her bell from Santa's sleigh.

Lilly wanted to pose in front - haha

Bennett - stuffed alligator, PJ's, photo album, piggy bank, books, and some boy toys

Karen - toaster, clothes, a hat, movie, puzzle and journal

Tyson - clippers, socks, and family calendar 

I thought Lilly’s presents to me and Tyson were very cute. She got Tyson a box of movie theater candy, popcorn, and a gift card to the movies since she likes going to movies with daddy. For me Tyson had her pick one out a small figurine animal since I like them. She got two hummingbirds – one for me and one for her. I thought it was special she picked out the hummingbirds all by herself because my Grandma Whitney loved hummingbirds and had them all over her house. It was also funny she wanted one for herself.

After presents we did video chats with Grandma and Grandpa (aka: papa) Ballard and Grandma Kathy. Lilly then played with her toys while we prepared our Christmas lunch of funeral potatoes and ham. It was super yummy but we should have invited someone else over because we had WAY too much ham.

The rest of the night we spent relaxing, playing with all of our new toys, playing Candy Land with Lilly, napping, an enjoying being together.   

Church Christmas Outfits 

Lilly used the same dress as last year. 

He has a little tie under his sweater -SO cute