Decking the (New) Halls

Dressing Up for Christmas

Logan, Hannah and Andrew all dressed up for church. I just can't resist doing the matchy-matchy thing for Christmas and Easter.

P.S. I'm pretty proud of the deal I got on Hannah's dress - $2.25 at a thrift store last year! Man, I miss those great Ohio thrift stores!

Merry Christmas!

This was our fourth (and final!) year spending Christmas in Ohio. It's been very fun to continue old traditions from our extended families as well as create new ones of our own. As always, we started things off with a yummy Christmas Eve breakfast at Cracker Barrel.Bryan and Andrew
Hannah
Logan and Summer
Hannah and Summer in the Cracker Barrel store.
That night, we all gathered around the Christmas tree in our new jammies (thanks, Nana and Papa) to read Christmas books and the Christmas story from the Bible.

Hannah entertained herself while we read.
After leaving milk and cookies for Santa, we went out on the lawn to leave magic food for the reindeer.
I think this may have been the first year in Ohio that we had some snow for our reindeer feeding tradition.
It was so comical to watch each child with their unique method of spreading their bag of food. Andrew just turned his bag upside-down and shook it out, Hannah threw it by the handful as hard as she could, and Logan crouched down close to the ground and very carefully sprinkled little bits of food in deliberate places all over the front yard. I even heard him whisper, "Here, reindeers! Come and get your food, reindeers!"Christmas Morning!!! (Don't they look excited?) The boys kindly slept in till 8:00 and we had to wake Hannah up.
Someone just woke up!
Andrew opening his microscope set from Nana and Papa.
Santa brought remote control cars for both Andrew and Logan.Hannah loved playing Mommy to her baby Snow White doll from Nana and Papa.A wireless Internet router for Bryan!
We were so spoiled again this year! In addition to the Netbook that Bryan and I gave each other, I also got a beautiful picture of the Salt Lake Temple from Brooke and Kody, a red wool peacoat from my mom and dad...
...and an awesome watercolor illustration of our family from our talented friends, the Tugeaus. Don't you just love it?!!
Hannah with her Christmas loot.
Logan's presents
Andrew...nice. (And in case you were all wondering, YES, he did get his alarm clock that he asked Santa for. Good thing.)
Just when the kids thought we were all done, Bryan pulled out one more present. It was a battery from Grandma and Grandpa Anderson that went to their new...
DODGE VIPER POWERWHEELS!!! Wow! Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa!

There goes the Lego table! Everyone better stay off the sidewalks!

The Polar Express

We've been wanting to ride The Polar Express (Cuyahoga Valley Railroad) for a few years now, and so we were so excited to get tickets this year! "Aaaaaall Aboooooaaaaard!!!" Logan with the Conductor.

Decked in their Christmas jammies (thanks, Nana and Papa!), the kids listened to a dramatized reading of The Polar Express.
We all enjoyed delicious hot cocoa and cookies served by a very enthusiastic singing server. "Hot, hot, hot CHOCOLATE!"
YUMMY!When we neared the North Pole, the children were told to wipe the windows to get a better view.
The train stopped for a few minutes at the North Pole where we saw lots of Christmas lights and friendly waving elves.
Once the train started moving again, we all sang Christmas carols together.
The boys sang in the secret hiding place they found between the seats.
In the midst of the singing, the BIG GUY himself appeared to meet with each child.