Santa came!!!

Maddie waiting on the stairs for Jackson.
Discovering Santa did come and brought them a 5 in 1 sports center.
Noticing Santa ate our cookies and drank the juice

...hockey

"Santa brought me some snacks!!"

Checking out all our presents. I had kept all the presents that were sent to us hidden so they wouldn't all be opened before Christmas. This was the first time Maddie had seen them all in one spot. We were spoiled by everyone!!

Jackson opening a Santa present.

Just last year he was sleeping during the opening of presents.

Madison playing with her princess cash register.

Santa brought exactly what Maddie asked for...Hungry Hippos!!!

new Tigers hat

Lots of gifts!!

Thanks everyone!!

Christmas Eve

I had to work Christmas Eve but we took some time to decorate cookies for Santa.

Maddie carefully placing the gumdrops....
then ate some sprinkles.
------
Jack on the other hand...

tried to eat the cookie before we started decorating,

pulled all the gumdrops off and ate them,

enjoyed some sprinkles too.

This year we left 'kool juice' for Santa (one of our favorites) and carrots for Santa's reindeer.

We tracked Santa before heading to bed.

2nd version of our tree

My Cuties!

Gingerbread Display

We headed to the JW Marriott today to check out their huge gingerbread display, "Holidays around the World." Maddie wanted to go past the "ropes" and touch everything. It was fascinating to look at.

the working toy train that circled most of the display

Some interesting facts...

400+ hours to create

350+ pounds of gingerbread

120+ pounds of chocolate

120+ pounds of candies & gum drops

75+ pounds of nuts & dried fruit

took over 30 days to construct

weighs over 800 pounds!

------

Of course, there was green grass so we had to play for a couple of minutes!

'Oh' Christmas Tree

Jack is REALLY into our Christmas tree this year...

the collection of ornaments he had removed
my half undecorated tree

The final straw...Jack moved stuff over to climb up and get at this ornament. He actually couldn't get the whole ornament off the tree, he just brought me Charlie Brown and a one-legged Lucy!! Today, I undecorated the tree and put away all our good ornaments. I don't want all our keepsake ornaments broken before they can even understand/enjoy them!!

Mrs. Clause & Santa

Before we rode the Polar Express, we stopped in the train station for a visit with Mrs. Clause and Santa.

I'm sure this is a preview of our Christmas pictures--Maddie smiling and Jack wondering what just happened!! One of these years, I will get them both smiling at the same time.

'Snow'

We went to the nightly "snowfall" tonight...

I think they enjoyed it...gonna have to find them some real snow to play in.

Construction Zone

Jack found a cone while we were walking/playing and thought it was great!

strong boy...gotta move the cone
...to right here

happy boy