Christmas Lights

Maddie and I went to look at Christmas lights tonight (Dec. 26) so we could show you. The house we wanted to show you was already taken down...well, they left the house lights up but took down all the yard decorations. Here are some pictures from our little tour tonight with my new camera. :)

Christmas Morning

At bedtime we told the kids that they could not get up before 7 a.m. That didn't last. They were awake before then. Andrew opened his bedroom door so he could hear when everyone else gets up. He laid in his bed listening for us to wake up and as he laid there he would cough every once in awhile. Jay woke up thinking that my Mom was knocking on our front door. So, Jay rolls over and says "Look out the window!" I get all excited thinking either there is a new van outside or it has snowed. But it was neither...just Andew coughing.The kids came out to look at the stockings. Then we called G'ma to tell her to come on over so we could start opening presents. Below are pictures of our Christmas blessing.

Christmas Eve

We had a turkey dinner for our Christmas Eve feast. The kids were very excited for dinner to be done so we could open a few presents. They were allowed to open one present which was from G'ma Joan. And also they could open a present from their sibling. But first Jay wanted me to open my gift from him. It was digital camera...it is so cool I can fit it in my pocket. So, I gave Jay his gift which was a massager.

Spreading Christmas Cheer with the Scouts

This year for Scouts our family filled and decorated 5 shoe boxes. We took these 5 boxes to a low income rest home. With a bunch of Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts we sang Christmas carols and handed out our boxes to the residents.
Afterwards we swung through Dutch Bros and got hot chocolate and coffee.

Track Santa

http://www.noradsanta.org/index.php

E-mail Santa

santaclaus@santaclaus.com

Santa has a daily message

1-800-972-6242

Christmas Smiles

A bad attitude is like a dirty diaper. No one likes to be around it, but everyone wants to see it changed!

Yesterday we had some errands to run in the afternoon and I had all the kids with me. So, I challenged them with this little experiment. I told them to keep track of how many people they could get to smile back at them. Well, the drive-thru bank lady never even looked at us. So, our next stop was Costco gas. The girl pumping gas just wouldn't smile and she was "short" with me. You could tell she did not want to be out in the cold and wet working. Well, the kids started knocking on the windows and waving "hi" to her. She melted. It was amazing to see how her whole personality changed. She went from being JUST there to do her job to a friendly laughing overly nice person. She was waving and laughing with the kids and talking to them. The kids kept this up everywhere we went. We saw tired looking shoppers perk up when the kids shared a smile with them.

You never know who you might "melt"...so, share a smile today!

Dear santa,
I'm not writing for myself, I would like you to help the homeless with gifts. I'm sure they would like soap, shampoo, cookies and some love.
your Angel,
Andrew

Andrew

I just love this picture! It is so funny! It was taken in the Spring.

Christmas Penguins

Christmas Fun

http://www.powerpres.com/xmascard03.html

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552

http://www.icq.com/friendship/pages/browse_page_7944.html

http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/