It's always nice to have a friend that knows the best activities to do. Angie suggested we go visit Santa and see the tree lighting. The MacMasters were in! Angie was a pro since they went last year, so she knew we needed to get there early and head to Santa first before the crowds came.
Olivia made sure that Ryden was safe while crossing the street.
Angie had her hands full and I could see Tessa frantically trying to hold her mom's hand. I asked her if she wanted to hold mine and with a sweet smile on her face she ran over and grabbed my hand. We are best friends.
Trevin can be a gentleman most of the time. Case in point when he held Tessa's hand because she was scared of Santa.
You can see the fear in her face. She agreed to sit on the cupcake as opposed to Santa's lap. Trevin rushed right up to Santa and jumped on his lap.
"What do you want for Christmas little boy?"
"Uh Uh Uh...a present"
"What kind of present?"
"Uh Uh Uh...a blue one"
Last year Ryden wanted nothing to do with Santa. This year, I think he wanted to impress his girl by being brave.
There was a cool 'Elf of the Shelf' treasure hunt the kids loved. Each store would hide the elf somewhere and the kids would have to find it to get that store checked off their list.
There was also a cookie decorating station. Ry and Liv took their time...
Trevin slapped a glob of frosting on and went to town.
We took off before the lighting of the Christmas tree because the crowd was a little to big for my liking.
Dada was waiting when we got home with some hot coco. Ryden is finally old enough to drink from the glass mug he got from Auntie Katie's wedding a few years ago. P.S. Poor gingerbread man...just a head left
We bit the bullet this year and bought an artificial tree. I have been putting it off because of several factors. I love the idea of picking out a Christmas tree and I love the smell of the real ones. Well, we usually just run to Home Depot and grab the first one we see so what's the point of that? Plus, they have these cool sticks you put on the fake tree that makes them smell better than the real ones I think.
Lights were already on so didn't have to fuss with that. The boys jumped right in and started hanging ornaments. Trevin is in a phase where he either wants to wear his bathing suit all the time....or nothing at all.
Concentration...
This was the favorite spot on the tree...Many ornaments were placed here....
....as you can see
All decorated..
I was worried it wouldn't look the same...but looks pretty good to me. Plus, in the long run we will be saving money and saving trees...
We finished the night by watching a Christmas movie while Dada slept.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
