Our North Pole Visit

The night before Christmas Eve, DJ and I decided to take the girls out to look at Christmas lights; a tradition that I look forward to every year! We get dressed in pj's and grab a snack, turn on Christmas music and drive around. 

This year, we decided to make a pit stop to the Bass Pro shop so the girls could see Santa one more time. Honestly, I just wanted a picture of them with Santa in their Christmas pj's. And, Megan had been telling us that the Bass Pro was the North Pole for about two weeks, so we thought it would be fun to take her. 

The girls were excited and ready to go! I made them "smores" and chocolate milk. 

The smores were just broken up graham crackers, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips. 

We totally underestimated how many people had put off seeing Santa. 

The "elf" told us that unless we already had a bass pass, that we would not be seeing Santa tonight. He was scheduled to leave by 9 and would already be staying until 11! She told us that to ease the disappointment of the girls, that we could head over to decorate a cookie, see Mrs. Claus, and come back first thing in the morning. 

So, we planned on doing just that. The girls were able to decorate owl shaped gingerbread cookies. 

DJ helped Adalyn decorate her cookie. He got a little happy with the icing.

Gretchen did a great job decorating her cookie. 

Once the icing was on, we added red sprinkles. 

Meggie showing off her cookie.

Mrs. Claus made her way over to talk to the girls as they were eating their cookie. She also told us how crazy the holiday season had been. 

Mrs. Claus was so nice, so sweet! 

About that time, the "elf" found us and let us know that a family who had a 6:30 bass pass had left, and she kindly gave us their pass. She told us when we were finished eating cookies and visiting Mrs. Claus, that we could go get in line!

So, we tortured Adalyn with pictures, and Megan had warmed up nicely to Mama Santa. (That's what I ended up calling her, so Megan could associate who Mrs. Claus was.)

Mrs. Claus insisted on getting a picture with Adalyn when she wasn't crying.

Then we headed over and grabbed our spot at the end of the 6:30 line. 

We passed time by making silly faces, playing with the children around us, and looking at the Christmas trees. 

Adalyn also spent some time picking her nose!

Megan was a little terrified to see Santa once again. She kept saying, "He won't touch me?" So, I assured her that Santa would NOT touch Megan.

And just to be sure, she stood very, very far away from him!

DJ convinced her to stand a little closer, and that if she did, she'd get a prize. She promptly scooted over- anything for the prize!

Once we grabbed our Santa picture (Bass Pro gives one free photograph), we loaded back up in the car with our snack and went on a light drive. My friend had told me about a house that had lights synchronized to music, so we drove out to see the lights. I think we sat there for 15 minutes just to see all of the lights, and the singing Christmas trees. 

Once the light show was finished, we decided to call it a night and head back home so we could get ready for Christmas Eve! I blogged about our Christmas Eve traditions yesterday! 

Tomorrow, I'll be wrapping up our Christmas at home, and then finishing up the week with our Weltegram2014s and will recap our Arkansas visit next week!

If you're out and about tonight for New Years Eve- BE SAFE!

Christmas Eve Traditions!

 Christmas Eve was a perfect day for our family. DJ was home, and we had all day to enjoy Christmas festivities and make memories. Just the 5 of us. It was so nice to not have to go anywhere for Christmas. We were able to focus on our family and our traditions.

We started our morning with our annual Christmas Eve Elf Breakfast! We started this tradition last year with the girls, and it was so much fun!

Our elf set our table and had breakfast waiting for the girls as soon as they woke up. 

I used scraps of fabric cut into rectangles for "placemats" and our gingerbread girl plates. 

Our elf even cut out paper snowflakes for the chandelier.

The girls have had so much fun with our elf this year, but mama wasn't too sad to see him go!

Gretchen read the note that our elf left for the girls. 

He brought us Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast!

Both of the girls chose a snowman doughnut to eat. 

Adalyn slept late, so she had her doughnut after there rest of us ate breakfast.

Mid-morning the girls and I started to make a Christmas canvas. This is another tradition that we started last year; making a reindeer or other Christmas character out of their hands and feet. I didn't make one with Adalyn last year, so I wanted to be sure to capture her little feet this year! I painted her foot green and we made a little Christmas tree.

The big girls shared a canvas this year, and I let them go crazy making fingerprints all over. Once it dried, I drew a "string" with sharpie, and their canvas looked like a million Christmas lights. 

In the afternoon, DJ made chocolate chip cookies with the girls. He's been the one to make cookies with them for the past few years.

The best part of making cookies, is eating the batter!

DJ made his dad's chili for dinner, and we got ready for Christmas Eve service at church. 

I attempted a photo of the three girls, and I was just happy that Adalyn sat without throwing herself down on the ground! Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of three young children? 

Next to impossible.

Addy was all smiles. She had just woken up from her nap, which helped her be more cooperative!

We attended the family Christmas Eve service at our church. We opted for a service that we could attend as a family, and DJ and I joked that this was the service for "all the screaming babies and wiggly children." The entire service was put on by children, and they told the story of Jesus' birth. 

After church, we rushed home to sprinkle reindeer food in the yard. 

Reindeer food is super easy to make, and it's a fun tradition! We just mix oatmeal with sprinkles!

Adeline may have eaten a bit of reindeer food.

Once the food was sprinkled on the lawn, we went inside and put on pj's!

We let the girls each choose a cookie for Santa, but Adalyn decided she wanted to keep one for herself rather than to give one to Santa!

Meggie tried swiping one too!

Adeline refused to put her cookie on the plate!

It took lots of convincing, and finally she cheered for herself!

We carried our cookies and milk over for Santa.

And then we said good-bye to our elf.