Christmas Baking + Christmas Eve

This past holiday season seemed to just fly by! There didn't see to be enough time to fit everything we wanted to do on the calendar. But we managed to get the "major" things done, like baking!

 We started off strong this Christmas by making a practice batch of Kringler. I'm still working on finding the perfect mix of powdered sugar and milk for the frosting, but it tastes yummy regardless. HD nominated himself to be the head of the baking committee, so he was in charge of making sugar cookies.

 Ms. Gail and I worked on making our 2nd batch of Kringler while HD was in charge of making sugar cookies. He loves being in charge of that to make sure the cookies get made!

JP is never any real help in the kitchen; he seems to just pop in at the right moment to get in on the real fun. Little stinker!

As per usual, we had our jammie exchange. We need to find a better way to go shopping. HD ended up with some Star Wars jammies, JP snagged a pair of Wreck It Ralph pjs and Ms. Gail picked out her beloved princess nightgown.

The HD thought he was getting the Wreck It Ralph ones, and JP thought he was getting the Star Wars ones so they were surprised at the switcheroo that happened!

Needless to say, it was a successful swap for the kids. Dad enjoyed the pair HD picked out for him, but the pajama set Dad picked out for me was...well, a little big. If he'd have held up the bottoms, he'd have known! Hahaha but he tried! He took them back and found a better pair for me somewhere else.

A few days before Christmas we finally sat down to decorate cookies. I say finally because we planned on doing it several nights before but things kept coming up. Then the night we were setting up, I asked JP to go get his glasses on, and they were no where to be found. Dad said we aren't starting until they were found.... an hour later we still hadn't found them so it we had to stick to the plan, so the kids went to bed. Ms. Gail and I prayed to Saint Anthony and he led me right to them. So the next night we *finally* sat down to decorate.

Ms. Gail did really well this year in not spilling *all* the sprinkles everywhere!

HD was super focus on decorating that he only decorated a couple.

HD's snowman vs JP's blue man. I can't pick a favorite boys!

The were all pretty excited to decorate cookies, but I was surprised at how much longer it took them to decorate them all! The older they get, the longer it takes! I thought it'd be the other way around!

On Christmas eve, the kids got together and made Strawberry Santas. They started out strong.

But we didn't have the willpower to not eat them immediately after so while dinner was cooking, they were snacking on their strawberries.

Another one of our traditions is reading, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and while I'm not super fond of the book, it's becoming more enjoyable now that Perry and I aren't the only ones reading it. Both boys took turns along with us but I was surprise at how many turns HD took. He brought one of the copies to school several times to read on his own. A true Dustin!

HD was finishing up reading the last paragraph when Ms. Gail attempted to jump from the couch to the bean bag on the other side of the coffee table. She lost her footing and tipped over my eggnog, which spilled alllll over the carpet and splash onto the couch. The story was immediately over as we then shampooed the carpet and clean the couch so it wouldn't smell rotten the next day. Happy Christmas Eve!

Before the kids went off to bed, they each were allowed to open one present from under the tree. HD picked one from Dad and received a collection of Star Wars actions figurines. He was thrilled!

JP opened up a coloring book from mom where you color in a circle to see see the image. Ms. Gail opened up a sticker maker. It was supposed to be opened the next day so when she wasn't paying attention, we put it back under the tree!

Ms. Gail finished up her letter to Santa as HD set up a camera to see if he could catch him.