Happy Christmas to All and to All a Good Night

Christmas Eve was an eventful and exciting day in our house.  Kevin took the day off of work so he got to spend the day with us—very rare and exciting!  The day started off on the right note and finished strong.  Here is a little photographic outline of our Christmas preparations.

Soren and Daddy got up at a regular hour, but left Boodle and I in bed together. Boodle’s early gift to me was that he slept until 9:20!  Not sure where that came from but we’ll just call it a Christmas miracle! 

Next, we had to prepare for Santa by making some cookies to leave out for him…

We spent the afternoon just hanging out and getting the house cleaned for the big day.  Both kids were soooooo well behaved, it was crazy!  I was beginning to wonder if my 3yo had been stolen and replaced with a well-mannered robot look-a-like—no 3yo is THAT good, especially not mine. 

Not to worry, I was quickly re-acquainted with MY 3yo when we went to Aunty Amy’s and Uncle Greg’s for dinner.  There is something about Nick and Soren when they get together…But after a few scares of almost having to send Santa a last minute email about naughty behavior, everyone straightened right out and enjoyed the evening.

This is my mother trying to escape the naughty boys via an alcohol induced hazeThis is my bro-in-law with his perfect GQ smile, as always, and his beautiful Stepford wife. And this is Kevin having a very Merry Time…Woohoo!

A pie made by my Stepford sister.  Nice work Amy!

After all of that fun, we had to rush back to our house where Aunty Amanda, Uncle Danny, and Wayne waited with more festivities planned.  All the while, we were tracking Santa's progress.  Santa was in Spain when were were driving home and in Ireland by the time Soren was ready for bed.  It was great because Soren was certainly feeling the pressure to get to sleep! 

We did the traditional Christmas PJs…

And then put our cookies out for Santa and carrots for the reindeers…

And then it was finally time for bed for the little guys.  Soren listened to The Night Before Christmas while Boodle tried to run off some of the candy canes he ate.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night

Bodie continued on like this for about an hour while Soren was in an absolute panic that Santa would skip our house if he and Boodle were still awake 

Then the adults got to partake in some elving, appetizers, and wii-ing. 

And I got to go to work for an absolutely CRAZY night (no pun intended).

It was certainly a very Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas

While our Christmas celebration will undoubtedly give plenty of blog posts, it may take a few days to sort through the hundreds of pictures and videos that were taken on Christmas (after all, it is all about the pictures isn't it?!). But here is a little teaser of some of the cute ongoings in the Sidell-Peterson household. Watch Boodle's face throughout the video!

Untitled from Amanda Sidell on Vimeo.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

The Elves Are Hard at Work

Our little elves were hard at work this weekend…

Decorating Grandma’s Christmas tree…

Practicing their positions as the reindeers’ underplays…

Making sure the snow globes were in working order…

Making Christmas Cookies…

And even taking a moment for a photo op for their number one fans…

Yes, the elves have been working very hard in the final days before Christmas!

Santa, I’d like a…

Soren and Bodie got to attend the annual Rotary Family Christmas with their Beepa and Mom and Dad got a quick minute to do some last minute shopping sans kids. It was great for all involved. 

The highlight of the evening for Bodie was all of the food!

The highlight for Soren was seeing the Big Man.  We hear that he marched right up to Santa and got on his lap. While we weren’t there to see the event, his excitement lingered when we went to pick him up.

And in true Soren fashion, the next day he told me a long, detailed story about how Santa brought his reindeer to the party and his visit with the reindeer. He also went into some serious detail regarding the new friends that he met at the party. Given the sheer number of friends with VERY unique names, I would say that part was probably story too.  (I seriously need to write more of these stories down!)

Thank you Beepa for inviting us to another Rotary Christmas!

Christmas Cookies the Sidell Way

During our Christmas weekend extravaganza, we went to Grandma’s house to decorate some cookies and warm up with some hot cocoa.

Check out that hot cocoa mustache! 

The kids had a great time decorating and did a really good job.  I must say, I was quite impressed with the minimal mess.

And Grandma was sure to pass on her family secret for cookies and all other things edible. She has passed the family secret on to me. And I was so proud that my kids will be able to carry on the legacy as well