Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve!
We had a nice little family Christmas program tonight. I read from Luke 2, Bryce played Silent Night on the guitar, Jared played Joy to the World on the piano (one finger), and Alana sang Silent Night to us all. Craig closed the evening with a family prayer. We put Alana and Tolan to bed and Bryce, Jared, Craig and I watched Harry Potter!

One of our silly traditions started when Bryce was about 4 years old and would try to sneak down the stairs in the middle of the night to see if Santa had already come. Being a savvy Mom, I rigged a little trap at the top of the stairs so he couldn't get past without setting off some sort of noise maker like bells on a string. Each year the traps got a little more elaborate, until they turned into a labyrinth of devices placed from top to bottom. Years past have included rows of shoes to climb over, chips that will crunch if stepped on, sheets of aluminum foil that make a loud sound when touched even slightly, open faced 'dirty diapers' with mushed up brownies inside, streamers, fishing line, coat hangers, bells, blankets and even large pieces of furniture in the way! There's no getting past MOM!
This year I went a little light because Tolan just moved from his crib to a big boy bed and I didn't want him to fall victim to a middle of the night catastrophe. I set up metal napkin rings all over the edges of the top few stairs that would fall to the ground when bumped even just lightly and make a loud banging sound on the hard tile floor below.

Extreme Candy Houses!

This afternoon we decided to make candy houses. Bryce's friend Logan joined us. We've had some struggles in the past with the structure falling apart, so this year I broke out the glue guns! The boys LOVED gluing together the graham cracker houses in unique shapes -- and hey, who eats the graham crackers anyway?! After the houses were built we switched to frosting and candy to finish it off. The result - great looking candy structures with all the right eatable pieces! A new tradition is born!

The Holiday Baking Has Begun!

...good thing I have such great helpers!