This Christmas was full of the 4 major F's: Food, Friends, Family and FUN!
My friend Katrina and I did our annual holiday baking. This was our fourth year doing it now. We spend the whole day baking and cooking treats for our friends. The first two years, we just brought our own ingredients, made the plates together at her house, and did it that way. It took us all day and it was so much fun. Last year, we combined forces and just made HUGE batches of this sweet chex mix and put it in baggies. That was also fun. We've also always had kids home to help us, because we usually do it when the kids are on Christmas break. Since break started so late this year, we did it while the kids were still in school. We also decided to try our hand at those cookie jars, where you put all the ingredients to make cookies in the jar, and they can make them at home with their families. It was fun and they turned out really cute! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend--she is seriously the best!
Of course, there were many nights of just hanging out at home with hot chocolate, watching Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate. I love the evenings in December when the house is lit only by the lights from the Christmas tree and Mantle.
This little man even got in on the Christmas (torture) spirit...
Of course, a trip to see Santa and the big tree downtown was a must. We went with our friends one day after pre-school...
{Taylor & Lily}
And since we were downtown, we stopped in a Mobius...
Speaking of friends, many a play dates were had in the month of December. All four of these boys were born within a month of each other this summer. We didn't mean to coordinate with the stripes, but we think a future boy band might be in the making here! :) I'm just hoping that they are all still friends in 15-20 years so we can show them this picture. My friend, Dori, invites us over for baby brunch every now and then and it's so nice not having any kids big enough to walk or move there yet, so we can just chat and relax! :)
{George, Jackson, Crosby & Jack}
These are the photos I get from my husband during the third hour of church when he has taken Jackson. He makes a pretty little lady! :)
Speaking of this boy and a pretty little lady. I can't tell you how many pictures I have of poor Jackson being 'loved' on by his siblings. They just always have to touch him or pet him and love on him. It is really cute, but unfortunately, most of the time he is leaning his head back to try and miss their little fingers! :)
December was also spent getting little gifts ready for Tucker's classmates. 25 of one little item to bring for his classmates. When I saw these star ornaments in the dollar section, 15 for $3, I was sold. I thought they were so cute and perfect for class gifts...
Of course, lots of crafting happened in the month of December:
The best part about December is when family FINALLY starts getting in town for the holiday's. This year was a bit different with only Nathan and his family making it. Jason had to work and only had Christmas day off, so they didn't make it. And Allen and his family had just moved to Las Vegas, so they opted to stay put for a while and not travel home. It was strange having such a small crowd during the holiday's, but also way fun to get to spend some one on one time with Carter & Chase.
These two boys are both snuggle-rs:
And I just can't get over the way Carter watches movies. SO cute! :) We were so happy to get to have him over so much during the holiday's to play.
It wouldn't be Christmas without some serious cookie decorating:
And it wouldn't be a Pyper get together without a serious competition. In this case cookie decorating, between Ben and I. I won't say who won the facebook vote. Ben did make a homemade piping bag for icing using a ziplock baggie. I had to give it to him. And just for the record, Tucker did start out decorating mine, I inherited it from him already started! :)
Along with family, friends always come in town, too! Which I get way excited about. That is one nice thing about living in Spokane (well, there are many) but I love that I get to see all my old friends when they come in to town to visit their families or for holiday's. My dear friend Emily came into town. I hadn't seen here in over a year and a half. That is the absolute longest we have ever gone without seeing each other. She had been living in Chicago while her husband did his rotations. And they didn't make it home for not even one holiday! It was so sweet to see her!
And her big boy, Ryder, who was just a few months old when I saw him last. He is now huge and so dang cute!!! :) He loved him some baby Jackson.
As much fun as it is to have kiddos, let's be honest. That breakfast was spent purely trying to tame the wild children. So, we snuck out for some late night dessert one night with another good friend, Gen. I love these girls. I was a bridesmaid for them both and have been good friends with them since we were 12. I am so lucky to have great friends!
Of course, when family and friends come in to town, the food around hour house multiply's by the hundreds! Between treats for school, church, friends, pre-school party and other Christmas parties, we were fully stocked all month long. Here is just a sample of what the corner of our counter looked like every day. We have hot chocolate, ginger snap cookies, sugar cookies, chex mix, puppy chow, fudge and that is a pan of bacon wrapped little smokies for a Christmas party. I was in heaven, but I seriously need to do something about this food habit of mine...bummer!
This boy also enjoyed some Christmas treats...
One of my favorite parts of the holiday's...SHOPPING!!! :) This is what my dad chose to do one day while we were taking too long in Target. Jackson seems to be enjoying himself. :)
And one last tradition to complete, was driving down the Christmas street. We had been meaning to take the kids all week before Christmas, with my sister in law, and somehow never got around to it. So, finally on Christmas eve I drove the kids by ( a few times) and the traffic was seriously backed up for blocks to turn down this street. It is awesome. They go all out. You can see this huge tree for blocks. It's so beautiful, and the kids just love it. I'm glad we made the trip even if it wasn't as fun as last year when we did the scavenger light hunt. We'll do that again next year! :)
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