Saturday, December 20, 2014

Smiling's my Favorite!

There are so many great Christmas movies out there ~
Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation
The Polar Express
How the Grinch stole Christmas
and who can forget A Christmas Story?  How may of you watched this movie as a child and still got their tongue stuck to a piece of metal in the cold wintery outdoors?  I didn't, but my older brother did!

My favorite Christmas movie, at the moment, must be Elf.  It's one of those dumb, funny movies.  You don't have to think too hard to watch this one!

And this scene:



is my absolute favorite!  I laugh every.single.time.  My family laughs when this part comes on as well, but I think they may just be laughing at me ~ oh well, I like to see people smile and if I have any part of their happiness, I'll take it!

What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Friday, December 19, 2014

What's on the list?

Every year as Christmas approaches, our family loads into our vehicle and drives about 30 minutes south to a local mall.  This isn't the closest mall to our house, but it's tradition.  This is the mall we have taken the kids to, to see Santa since Sassy's first Santa visit when she was 9 months old (13 years ago).


While a couple of our kiddos were definitely a bit reluctant (and perhaps thought I was crazy for having them do this), they smiled and had fun with the experience ~ for their little sister's sake!

Speaking of their little sister, Smiley was fun to watch.  She was filled with nervous excitement and couldn't wait to give Santa her list and tell him what she really wants for Christmas.

As she was waiting in line, you could simply "see" her little brain working as she was rehearsing what she was going to say.  While I couldn't hear what she was saying to herself as she waited in that line, I could see her little mouth moving as she was preparing for her minutes with Santa.


When at last, it was our turn, the kids sat around Santa and posed for a picture.  Then, they each had a  moment to tell him what was on their Christmas list.  Sassy expressed she wanted books and movies, Action: an iPad mini and Minecraft for our playstation.  And Smiley, well, after all of that mental preparation, she asked Santa for.........warm pajamas.  Her wish made me giggle a little bit.

Here is a pic of her list (front and back) before she gave it to Santa.




Curious, what are your kiddos asking for this year?


Thursday, December 11, 2014

Even though....

Even though Christmas is approximately 14 days away.....

Side note:
I'm not a day counter, nor is my husband or 2 of the 3 kiddos, but Smiley?  She is a counter.  Always has been.  When she was littler, the question was always, "how many more sleeps?"  Now that she is older (a whopping 6 years old), every morning she looks at our family calendar and counts the days until Christmas (or her birthday, or anyone's birthday, or a planned playdate or whatever else she can count down).  It is definitely an endearing annoyance :)

Anyway,

Even though Christmas is 14 days away, I still want to share with you the pictures I took of the kiddos this fall on our annual trip to the local falls.  Coming here makes me wish we still lived in our tiny city house, just blocks from this little gem of natural beauty.

Behold... some lovely fall colors (oh, and cute kids, don't forget the cute kids part ~ at least I think so!):