2011 Christmas Memories

The children were at such a wonderful age this Christmas. Will was old enough to have wonderful memories of Christmas' pasts and understand Santa and all that fun stuff. Avery was very "in the moment" and had lots of excitement about our Elf on the Shelf and singing Christmas songs.

Just a few things I want to remember about Christmas through Will and Avery's eyes....

-Will calling Santa "Sandy Claus" like my grandmother does
-Avery always saying "Ho Ho" instead of  "Ho Ho Ho"
-The sheer joy the children found in searching for our Elf "Tyler D Elf" every morning
-Will participating in his first Christmas pageant as a sheperd
-The children (and my mom) hearing Santa (my dad) say "Ho Ho Ho" on Christmas Eve while they were on the front porch looking for him.
-Will not knowing, even on Christmas Eve, whether he was on Santa's Nice or Naughty list
-Avery refusing to wear her Christmas pjs, and instead wore pink camo pjs
-The annual ride to look at Christmas tree lights and how funny the kids are as they see the outrageous light displays
-And our subsequent Christmas lawn geese we had to purchase the day after b/c the kids were so bummed at our lack of lawn decorations (pickings are slim on 12/23. Of course we got a set of 3 for $6.25 too....)
-Will and Avery taking Will's remote control truck to my parents ditch and playing with it in the mud for 45 mins, until it broke, with my parents' 87 year old neighbor.
-Will not knowing not to open up presents early
-Santa bringing a basketball goal, but Matt and I failing to locate Will's basketball prior to Christmas
-Will painstakingly creating the tag for his gift to Avery, and then watching her intently while she opened it and asking her if she liked it
-The kids singing their various renditions of the dreidel song....Avery's usually included calling it "play-doh" or "pickle"....
-The gifts the kids give me....Matt is very good about taking them shopping and while he may steer them in a particular direction, he usually gives them free reign in what they pick out for me.  It is so sweet to see what their little hearts and minds come up with. This year from Will was cultured pearl bracelets and Avery gave me 2 kinds of perfume!