Jeff is drooling over the table, can you tell?
We followed it up with a little Band Hero in our jammies.
Just when we thought we couldn't stuff ourselves anymore, the next day we had a left over party with my sister's family and made gingerbread houses. I forgot my camera, so you'll just have to imagine it, okay?
But then Saturday morning, we made the kids get up super early for our BIG surprise that we have had planned for a month!
They are obviously thrilled to be in the car so early.
Our big Surprise? The Santa Train!!!!!!!
Having six children, sometimes exciting, money costing things don't happen as often as any of us would like. But we splurged on this.
The Santa train leaves from Elme, Wa. Near Mt. Rainier. It goes around a big loop for 2 hours while you drink hot chocolate, eat cookies and visit with Santa.
I didn't get a picture of the front of the train. Sometimes you're just so excited that you forget important stuff.
But we remembered all the kids, so I felt preeety darn successful.
They have a real, live conductor even.
Nora was very excited about her ticket.
And everyone loved getting their tickets punched!
I will show all the Santa pictures tomorrow, for the viewing pleasure of two grandma's I know. The rest of you can tune in too, if you want.
But this post is already long enough.
After the Santa train, we decided to go and get a tree. An honest to goodness, live Noble fur tree.
We hunted down our tree, and carefully chose based on color and symmetry.
Mostly the kids just yelled "We like this one, we like this one!"
The lovely tree farm people (yes we bought it from a tree farm. We are not currently equipped clothing wise to go traipsing through the forest, and I like to support the local economy) wrapped the tree for us, and we tied it down to the roof of the big blue van.
When we got home, we put on the Christmas music while Jeff got out the Christmas decorations and shook the tree a little for me. Which didn't do much for my peace of mind, so as I told you yesterday, I vacuumed it.
But whilst vacuuming, I found this:
It's not a random collection of twigs and hay, it is a perfectly formed little bird's nest!
That's super lucky because some sweet little mama bird thought our tree was the best place for her new babies.
So we left the nest in the tree, and gave it to a new little birdie.
The we, well me actually, decorated our mantel. I am in love with silver, white and blue this year.
And I was so happy to see the apothecary jars holding such sparkly things.
It was just a super fun weekend. Chock full of being together, starting new traditions, and just looking forward to Christmas. I love Christmas. And this year I am so excited for every bit of it.
Tomorrow I will be sharing the Santa pictures, and issuing a challenge. You're ready for a little challenge, right?
Thanks for being here, as always.
I could use a good challenge ~ I hope it's Christmas related!!
ReplyDeleteAlso -- you are amazing parents for the Santa Train...I didn't even know it existed...
And your tree is beautiful. Truly beautiful!! As is expected...
I love reading you! Sometimes I don't have time and have to come back later but I always do:) You make it seem to easy and that helps give me the motivation to try things :)
ReplyDeletep.s. he was totally drooling, I saw several similar eyed men at my sister's house :-)
ReplyDeleteI think finding a birds nest in your real tree is some sort of lucky omen for the whole next year! Lucky Family!
ReplyDeleteHow fun - we are looking for a "santa train" near us, but haven't been successful in finding one near enough to drive as we'd like. LOVE your curtains - I may or may not have that same fabric sitting in my linen closet from last january to be made into a pair of dining room curtains :). Your mantel is lovely - but not as lovely as your smile - I miss it!
ReplyDelete