It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We may still have boxes to unpack, but we got the Christmas stuff out this last week. Our neighborhood has a lot of people who decorate, and we were happy to jump on board.

Of course, no one can compete with Deacon Dave's. This is the view we have just three doors down.

 Over 500,000 lights, life size displays of elves making gingerbread cookies, interactive sound-making machines--it's really fun, even if it's a little crazy.

 This has been going on for 34 years, all done by the a local catholic deacon and his team.

We went opening night, which included a procession down the blocked off street, speeches from a city council member and the police chief, 

and the deacon sprinkling holy water.on the crowd. Not the average light display. :)

And the whole thing was even more fun because we got to go with my friend who I've known since 4th grade, and now, after all these years, we're living in the same city again. It was so fun to hang out again.

Saturday was jam-packed with Christmasy fun. First up, brunch at the church and visits with Santa.

I didn't realize that my kids were so unprepared to see the big guy--Bug was the only one who could think of anything to say to him.

Peanut's faces are cracking me up these days in photos. At least he keeps his eyes open, I guess.

Then, we went to pick out a tree. When we were getting ready to move, we realized that our artificial tree was going to be too tall for normal height ceilings, so we sold our tree, and got to pick out a real one this year.

Finally, we ended the night with the big parade downtown. Livermore feels like a great community and events like this that bring everyone out are fun.

There were some pretty quirky floats, we met some nice people while we were waiting for it all to start, and had fun walking around for a bit after. It's kind of like our own little Stars Hallow, only on a bigger scale :)

Merry Christmas!

The calm before the storm. I love the tree all lit up when it's dark out. Which was what it was when the kids woke up this morning. We heard Bean, who had slept in the boys' room last night, waking up Peanut at 6:15 with a, "It's Christmas morning! It's Christmas morning!" He may have been sound asleep before that, but he was wide awake once he heard that it was present time.

Santa really stuffed those socks this year. To overflowing. But that wasn't where he overdid it.

The 15 foot trampoline in the family room was where Santa really went overboard this year. Santa thought it would be really funny, and it was (although it now means we get to spend a couple hours disassembling it and moving it outside this weekend). 

 

The kids were extremely happy about the surprise, although they did take the indoor trampoline in stride. With Christmas magic, I guess anything is possible, so in their minds, it's just part of the great day that is Christmas.  

 

There was a whole lot of this all day long.

There were a few other Christmas dreams that came true today. Peanut got his bear slippers he'd been asking for all month, and the new sippy that he randomly asked Santa for last night. I'm impressed that Santa was able to make that last one happen.

These kids were all so excited to have everyone open the gifts they'd picked out for each other. I love seeing their happy faces with each new surprise.

 

More jumping.

 

They took breaks sporadically throughout the present opening.

There was a lot of lego playing today, too.

 

By all sizes of kids.

There were a few minutes of going outside. Bean (with some help from her  Daddy-o) made deer prints to hook to Bug's boots, so he can leave his own prints in the mud or snow.

They work pretty well--so cool!

There was some journal wrecking going on.

Then there was the Lego playing ON the trampoline

 

And the journal wrecking ON the trampoline.

Plus more jumping.

And some napping. Some of us didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. You know you're tired when you can pass out in the middle of all the crazy, which we both did at some point this a.m.

Peanut made out in the stuffed animal department this year. Huge rhino, thanks to Bug who found it at Costco last week ($10! I couldn't believe it!), a Curious George from us, a sock monkey from a neighbor, and a Pete the Cat, which Bean made for him out of felt.

Pretty cute. And if you aren't familiar with the Pete the Cat books, you really should be.

Of course Bug's Christmas involved dinosaurs. He hopped right on building this model. And he got a few new books from the Dinosaur Cove series he loves so much.

And there was puzzle making for Peanut. It's his new obsession. Unkie got him this cool farm puzzle and Santa brought him a small Mickey Mouse puzzle, so he was a happy camper.

 

We'll leave this post with one last trampoline picture. The older two kids are actually happily sleeping on it right now (Peanut had to be returned to his bed because it was all too exciting and he could not go to sleep.) It's been a good, lazy day, with lots of family time and a few quiet moments here and there to remember the birth of our Savior.

 

Merry Christmas!