(For some reason this never posted until now)
Just a little recap of Christmas 2012 with just a few million pictures...
We made our annual trip to Santa's Village. Unfortunately it was so crowded that we didn't stay long. It was pretty cold and there was a 15-20 minute wait just to walk through the tiny houses. K wasn't really in the mood for the cold, crowds,and lines and neither was I. This little village has gained a lot of popularity since I was a kid. better luck next year!
Next stop: Visit with Santa!
We thought it would be a good idea to go see Santa on a Sunday afternoon as soon as the mall opened at noon. We arrived to Santa's station around 12:20 and the line was already at (what we based on previous years) the hour mark. We were fine with that, this is Dallas after all.
Well we were wrong. It took THREE hours of waiting to see Santa. Honestly the line wasn't too bad, it was he people running the show that delayed it all. They were allowing people to take as many pictures as as they wanted until they got one they really liked. Seriously?? take 5 pictures, pick one and move on. The family in front of us took 15 minutes to take their pictures. They honestly thought they could get their 6 moth old and 2 year old took both look and smile at the camera, while being terrified of Santa. I almost lost it.
Luckily K was in a fabulous mood. I think he was just delirious after waiting so long. He started rolling on the ground and pretending to be asleep. Normally I would never let him do that, but after three hours we just found it funny.
After all that waiting, a few days later I lost the pictures. I almost cried. What they say about pregnancy brain is true. I believe I threw them away while I was cleaning. Grrrrrr.
I couldn't stand not having a a picture of K with Santa this year, so back to the mall we went. This time we went to a less popular mall with a toned down Santa. The line was only 30 minutes and we got our picture with Santa!! We celebrated later with giant cookies. K took the picture of my husband and I, pretty good for a 3yr old!
2012 Picture with Santa. We call this Kemper's Elvis smile.
Thank you, Thank you very much.
Helping dad put out the outdoor Christmas decorations.
Final result.
They had so much fun doing this. I can just imagine years from now them making this a tradition and going crazy on the outdoor decorations together.
This Holiday we had an Elf visitor from the North Pole, his name was Lucky.
I must admit this Elf on the Shelf is one of the best ideas ever. K was on his best behavior for the entire month of December in fear that Lucky would report back to Santa any bad behavior.
He got a kick out of waking up each morning to see what crazy and silly things Lucky had done while he was sleeping. On Christmas Eve he got in the refrigerator and was going to eat all the cookie dough that was for Santa!
( For all you serious Elf on the Shelf people, yes Kemper is touching him. At our house he could be touched ONLY to put him back on the shelf after we found him in the morning without losing his powers)
Christmas Eve.
K putting out the cookies & milk for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer. He was really sad knowing that Lucky would be going back with Santa that night, broke my heart. ;)
K was so worried about us starting a fire on Christmas Eve, he came up with this theory all on his own. We couldn't help but laugh and get the video recorder out.
Christmas morning.
This was the first year that Kemper really understood the concept of Christmas morning. Just watching him walk down the stairs and seeing his expression after he saw all the presents was priceless. He was so excited. He couldn't believe that Santa had visited and brought him everything he had asked for. His favorite gift was his "piano" His Meme has a keyboard at her house and he always loves to play with it. He really wanted one of his own. My husband was able to get a beyond awesome deal on one off of Craigslist. He was also thrilled with his new Cars Movie tricycle.
Looks like someone was good this year.
I think this is just half his loot!
Later that afternoon we went to my parents house to open more gifts.We were very surprised to that we also got the gift of a white Christmas!!
Merry Christmas!!
After all the snow cleared up my husbands parents came in town for a visit. K was in heaven. He loves it when they come over, and they came bearing gifts!! :)
And then it was all over,time to start a new year. I had to work and didn't get to celebrate the New Year with my boys, but I did get ring in it in with my other "family" at work :)
We had a wonderful Christmas and it was even more special this year because I could really see it through the eyes of my son this year. It made me so thankful for him and our family.
Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!
