Christmas Past

So...I was looking through pictures this weekend to get a fun little project going (making ornaments out of our yearly family Christmas cards) and realized that I never posted anything about last year's Christmas! Woops! Before I move on to this year, I'd like to quickly rewind and update.

Christmas 2011 in pictures:

We had fun at Michael's family Christmas. It was great to see everyone, and Michael's parents made a very clever and thoughtful gift. It's a board full of quarters. Under each quarter is an idea of something to pray for as a reminder to pray specifically each time you take a quarter off to use it. I love this idea...and I'd swear she got it from Pinterest except that I don't think she knows what that is. :) It's been the gift that kept on giving because I don't think we've taken all the quarters off yet.

Elliott had a little preschool Christmas program. He sang Jingle Bells SO loudly that you could hardly hear the other kids. I couldn't believe how much he got into it!

Then we had Christmas with my family. My Dad's expressions crack me up! This is him opening the Two if By Tea we gave him.

The girls were both given backpacks with their names on them. Pink for Emma and, of course, purple for Isa.

Elliott loved his little Etch-A-Sketch. It was a great gift for him...until Henry stepped on it and broke it a few months later.

Emma got Molly, an American Girl doll. (who recently got a makeover) We also gave Emma this little school desk for Molly. Henry thought it was the perfect place for him to sit. (And continued to try to sit in it like this until he broke it a few months later. Hmmm...I'm starting to see a pattern here.) And I have no idea why Henry wasn't wearing pants. He doesn't have pants on in any of the Christmas pictures!

Andrew couldn't make it in person to spend Christmas with us...but thankfully there's Skype! He and Christen got to see everyone and watch my Dad open his big gift...

...a share of Packers stock! My brothers and I went in on it for him. I was born in Green Bay and my parents lived there for a while. My Dad lived in Wisconsin his whole life until after I was born...so this was truly the perfect gift for him. :) And now that's an owner, we hope he'll whip that team into shape. (Actually, Michael hopes he doesn't. Packers and Vikings fans don't mix well.)

Emerald is a little artist and loves to color and draw.  She was wearing her cute little Christmas dress and these turned out to be some of my favorite pictures of her...ever. I had trouble only picking two to post. I took a ton and they all just capture her personality perfectly!

Isa just decided to lounge around on the kitchen floor. I guess she wanted to be part of the action, but not do any work. :)

If Michael has a few hours of free time at someone else's house (where he doesn't have to do house projects), he finds random game pieces and materials to make towers like this:

 And then this:

Here's our advent calendar all filled up. We have it out and going again this year...along with a new addition to our advent calendar collection (do two make a collection?) that my in-laws gave to Henry for his birthday. It's a nativity advent calendar with cute little wise men and the whole nativity scene built over the course of the month.
This advent calendar is one I bought several years before even having kids, but I still really like it. Each character has 'Merry Christmas' written in a different language and you place each one on their country as you fill the calendar.

So there you have it. Merry Christmas 2011! Hope you had a great one! :)