A Few Random Photos From Last December

Sam did some cool chalk art on the driveway.

Boo Boo was awaiting the arrival of the Christmas tree.

Sam did basketball for the first (and so far, only) time. He thought it was okay but he didn't love it. Neither of my boys really got into basketball, although John did it for years when he was younger and he liked it (but didn't love it). Basketball and soccer have turned out not to be our sports; can we really call ourselves normal red-blooded Americans?

That's Sam on the left--with the ball!

It got excessively frigid in mid-December, so frigid that church got cancelled and school got delayed for two hours the next day.

John is happy to read the newspaper when football is involved.
I guess he's a normal red-blooded American after all! Ha ha.

Here's a picture from Christmas morning. The expression on Sam's face as he opens his gift makes me LOL.

This is my favorite spot to snuggle up and read during the holidays, on the couch right next to the Christmas tree. Sometimes I turn off all the lights and read by the light of the tree. Every so often I'll even sleep there. It's magical to sleep, read, rest, or sit next to a lit-up Christmas tree, especially a real one with its soft pine scent wafting gently through the air. I love this spot!

And I love December!

Rockin' Out with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra!

Last December we went to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and it was really cool! It was an entertaining and new (for us) way to celebrate the season and we all enjoyed it. They put on a really good show and I love what they do with their music!

This was before the show started. Our seats were pretty good with a nice view of the stage.

Christmas colors!

 This walkway projected out over the audience for some of the songs which was pretty cool.

 The pyrotechnics were first-rate.

The use of lasers was on-point too (pun intended).

 They played music from The Nutcracker while gigantic nutcrackers marched on the screens behind them. 

Cell phone lights from the audience. 

There were new heights reached...

  

And there was lightning (and hair-whipping)...

  And then the grand finale...

We love their music, and it was a really well-done concert. I hope we'll go to one again at some point! 

This Gingerbread House is So Sweet, It Needs a Backdrop!

Just about every year the kids decorate a gingerbread house. They both enjoy it, but Sam especially gets into it. Last year he was even inspired to paint a backdrop for it!

I liked the way this swirly blob of orange paint looked!

While the painting dried it was time to put together the house and decorate! 

Ta-da!

 The house was completed with hardly any arguing between them. It was a Christmas miracle!

I think his painting came out quite well. The house too!

This picture was taken on Christmas Eve. Note that the infamous tornado twister toy made it into the picture. I think Sam was pretending that a twister was threatening to destroy the gingerbread house. I don't think it would have had too much of a problem doing that since, you know, it's a gingerbread house. Ha ha! 

Christmas Eve 2016

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the whole year! (And it's only ten days away!) I love it because it's a magical, special day full of anticipation and excitement as well as simple peace and joy. We almost always spend it at home together, and this is some of what we did last year. 

I let the kids open a present in the morning (as well as in the evening) because it gives them something fun and different to do or to use during the day. Sam got a Lego set that he promptly put together.

I must have let him open two gifts because he also played with this tornado twister for most of the day. It was from my niece/his cousin Hayley. He absolutely loved it!

Hayley really knocked it out of the park with the gifts she sent for the boys! She got John this passback football that he played with all day. You throw it against a wall and it bounces back to you, so you can practice both your throwing and catching.

We enjoyed our annual prime rib candlelit Christmas Eve dinner.
(Note the tornado twister right next to Sam. He really did love that thing!) 
Something was funny! I'm sure I said something really silly to get them to laugh like this.

Christmas Eve night, after Santa came.

 In my book, Christmas Eve really is the most wonderful day of the year!
I'm so glad that it's almost upon us once again!

Last Christmas (I Gave You My Heart)

Our Christmas season of 2016 consisted of the following...

 Do you see our Elf on the Shelf Rooster? (I guess I just gave it away.)

I got this Victorian advent calendar for myself. 💖 I'm re-using it again this year.


Each window has a delightful little scene like this...

Another fun purchase for myself was this delightful little book.

We finally used our fireplace after years of never using it and my dreams of a homespun, classic Christmas were complete.

Here's another thing we did for the first time. It turns out there's a pretty decent sledding hill in the field right behind our house! It only took seven winters for us to figure that out!

Re-hanging an ornament on the mini tree. Plus, presents and Christmas books.

Little shepherd boy...

...and his brother.

This was from the cover of a catalog. Simple and beautiful. 

I got this pretty candle at Kohl's. Not only did it smell really nice, but I liked seeing the positive message on it every day: "Joyful, peaceful, full of love." I used it as a meditation mantra and it worked really well. 

We went to see the Joffrey Ballet's new debut of "The Nutcracker." They did a different spin on it that was okay, but I preferred the original. Nothing will probably ever compare to Boston Ballet's rendition for me.

Hancher Auditorium just re-opened this year after being destroyed by flood waters before we moved here. It's a really cool auditorium, and it's only about ten minutes away!

 I liked what this card said.

Speaking of cards, I was pleased with how ours turned out. Gold polka dots were my thing this year.

These Lindt Peppermint Extra Dark Chocolate Truffles are my personal kryptonite every Christmas season. 

I love them so much! Too much!

I'll post pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day soon. It's only taken me a year to do that, no big deal! 😁