Christmas Traditions

On December 1st the countdown began toward Christmas. WIllem was excited each day to open the box and read the note inside. Some activities from this year: Sing Christmas songs, wrap presents, adopt a family, pass out gifts to the neighbors, make cookies, watch Polar Express, Crazy light house, read new Christmas story, and open a surprise gift.

This morning, the advent box said a surprise family night. Willem guessed Train Park immediately. He knows us too well. For the 2nd year in a row we bundled up, drove through Jack in the Box and headed to the Train Park to see the lights and Santa (from a distance). Though not pictured, Grandma and Oom Rik were along for the ride as well.

A gift the kids opened early was a nativity set. After years of looking for a non-breakable nativity set, we found exactly what we were wanting. Willem had fun moving the figures around as we read the nativity story to him.

Willem's Holiday Party. I manned the cookie decorating station and it was fun seeing each of the children's personalities come out in the decorating style. Willem couldn't wait to get that cookie in his mouth.

Crazy Light House

We had dinner with the Baldwins and Bertolinos before heading over to the Crazy Light House. The train display window was a hit for all.

Our attempt at a group pictures. Brooke and William are missing in this one. Hopefully another Mom snapped one with all the kids.

Delivering neighbor gifts was great this year because the kids really enjoyed doing it and meeting neighbors we don't see often. We even learned one of our neighbors sends her child to Willem's school. What a small world!

Popcorn and the Polar Express Movie Night

Ellie loved sneaking and eating the dough when I wasn't looking. Soon she was grabbing it by the handful.

As is Weiss tradition, Opa searched all over the US for the largest tree. Usually it can be found near his home in California but this year, it was right near us in Anthem. So after Opa and Lita arrived on the 23rd, we all loaded up and went to Anthem to check out the beautiful, towering Christmas Tree.

Keep Up with Ms. Ellie

Determined to keep up with Willem, she walked around the block, never asking to be carried

Finally kept a hat on!

Shoe shopping in Reese's closet

Loves dancing

Ellie in December
Dancing, running, happy

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning we kept the kids in our room until they could wait no longer. Willem ran into the family room with Ellie steps behind him. He noticed right away that Santa and the reindeer had eaten the snacks they set out. Opa read the letter Santa left for them.

The kids opened their stockings and played a bit while waiting for the rest of the family to rise.

Willem decided to get everyone in the Christmas spirit by walking around the house singing Jingle Bells. He was proud to know a Christmas song and got frustrated that he didn't know more. By New Years he new Up on the Housetop as well.

Love that she's eating a strawberry while opening her presents! Breakfast could not wait even on Christmas morning.

Santa brough Ellie and Willem one present each and then a present to share(this drum).

Willem liked to stop with each present and play with it or put on the shoes. It was neat to see his excitement with each gift.

Grandma prepared quiches which were amazing and we had a nice brunch as a family before opening the rest of the presents. For us Christmas is all about spending time with family. It's so much fun buying things for the kids and seeing their reactions so it's a delicate balance as we don't want them to think of Christmas simply as a day to receive presents. Though the morning was spent opening presents, the afternoon was spent enjoying family time, playing games and cooking family dishes.

Total contentment. These days Ellie is on the run most of the time, so I cherish these moments where she'll snuggle in my arms.

Dinner was an assortment of dishes representing our families heritage. We had satay, mashed potatoes, tamales, persian rice(in honor of Arash) and a few other dishes. What was fun is that we each made a piece of the meal and then came together to celebrate the holiday as a family.

Willem and Arash each played the violin for us after dinner which was really neat. Arash had done Suzuki as a kid as well and shared a bit of his experience with us. I think it made Willem even more excited to play.

We were very blessed to be with family and friends this Christmas and look forward to many more Christmas' together in the future.

Christmas Eve

The Torry Family celebrates Christmas Eve so we spent most of the day at Paw Paw and Gigi's. Santa left a fishing rod and a push car unwrapped by the tree and the kids went straight to them. Paw Paw taught Willem how to fish inside. By the end he had properly twisted the string enough to give Paw Paw something to do for awhile during his retirement. But he is very excited to go to a lake soon.

Willem had wrapped a lot of the presents with us, so he was really excited to see people open the gifts he had wrapped or picked out.

Thank goodness for Cassady. Willem loves playing with his cousin and being the first grandchild, she is his only playmate besides Ellie. Those two played for hours.

A quiet moment in the day

Willem was asked to be the donkey in the Children's Service on Christmas Eve. The service was beautiful and Willem had our family in stitches. I wasn't sure how he would like being in front of everyone at Church as it was a completely packed room, but he seemed to think nothing of it.

Upon getting up in front he quickly took his hat off. Then he sat down for awhile. Then he started trying to talk to us while we were several rows back in the Church. Then he whispered something to Cristina(the person who was directing them) and he walked off the stage and came to us and said he had to go potty.

Upon his return from the potty he gave his shepherd something to do. All in all, he had fun, we had a good laugh and he was asked back next year.

Jason made the traditional soup for Christmas Eve. This year it was Vegetable Chicken Soup. The soup was delicious and Lita guessed the mystery ingredient of Peanut Butter.

Matching PJ's. Not sure why this is our Christmas Eve tradition but it's so darn cute.

Willem studying how Santa will be arriving. We've read this book many times leading up to Christmas Eve, but it was nice reading it as a family.

Setting out the cookies and carrots for Santa and the Reindeer.