I hope you guys all had a great Christmas!  Early in the morning Josh took his sister and fam to the airport so they could attend a family reunion in Oregon.  I was pretty torn about going or staying, but we opted to stay since we just moved.  I think there is a good chance of more family visits in the future, so that has helped me when I feel twinges of missing dear ones.  We enjoyed a quiet day, opening gifts and making cookies.  In the evening while our chicken (fondly named Rosie) was cooking we went out and saw Christmas lights around the neighborhood.  We returned home to find that Rosie had refused to cook completely, but we triumphed in the end and had a nice dinner.

I didn't do a very good job of explaining Christmas this year, I think, which was revealed when Annie was asked what Christmas was about.  She replied, "Presents!"  When asked what else it was about she thought for a moment and said, "More presents!"  Oh dear...

For the kids I tried my hand at making felt puppets.  They seemed to turn out ok...at least you could mostly tell what they were.  There was a tiger, lion, zebra and dog/sheep (that last one is up for interpretation...) complete with googly eyes (my favorite!) glued together with a hot glue gun.  I love those things!  They make some crafts go a lot faster.  It's been nice to create things with my hands again, since I sort of stopped for a while when I started working full time, getting married, having kids...etc.  Sort of a re-discovery.  I have my eye on a few other DIY projects now...

 Annie made cookies with Chloe before Christmas.  She had tons of fun.  I think sampling the batter was her favorite part.  ;) 

 Stockings!  I'm grateful for a dollar store that supplied me with small items to stuff it with.

 Trying some chocolate discovered inside.  Wesley would not move off this bean bag the entire time we opened gifts up until he opened his present from Uncle John and Aunt Carrie.  Something about a big yellow Tonka dump truck...

 He said, "ooooh Wesley!"  when he saw it.

 I think this is Annie's favorite toy hands down.  She played with it almost non-stop after opening it.  She is hoping it will rain soon.

Had to post some pics of my handsome guys too.  :)