Best Christmas ever!

This holiday season was the best one ever! I was done with Christmas gifts pretty early and decided not to stress over anything, but just do whatever I have time for. That was a great plan cuz it actually worked. I didn't get as much baking done as I would've liked, and I didn't get to visit as many people during the holidays as I had hoped, but, it was the most relaxing Christmas I have ever experienced!

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house, along with my parents, Marianne and Anniken.

Walking into their house brings you complete Christmas spirit, including the dinner table that my mom had decorated and ready to go for us. Beautiful, as always!

My mom and dad made the dinner together. My mom is an amazing cook and my dad does an excellent job with grilling, so together, they're the perfect combination for holiday meals.

It was so nice to be together with my whole family again. Since Anniken has been spending the last semester studying in the States and Marianne is a busy-bee, we don't get the chance to get together as often as we used to. I miss it! It was so much fun sitting around the table chatting and laughing like the good ol' days.

Aiden got a fever on Christmas Eve and wasn't feeling that well, which means he takes advantage of having his aunties around and spends a lot of time in their arms. ;)

Elliot got a head start with gift-opening while we relaxed around the table a bit longer. He was SO appreciative of all of his gifts, especially the Legos!

More auntie-cuddle time for our little Aiden-bear. Poor guy, I felt so bad for him! Luckily, the medicine worked quickly so he was able to enjoy the evening with us before a good night of sleep.

You can't have Christmas with JULENISSEN! Aiden was a bit sceptical to this guy in red with a big white beard, but did laugh at him several times. Our julenisse was really silly and funny this year... it must have been THE REAL ONE, don't ya think? Elliot was super excited and had a lot of questions to ask. He did make sure to tell him which of his friends' houses he must remember to visit after he left ours. Always concerned about others - that's my boy!

We were missing Mike in our family picture and told him to jump in while Aiden was still letting us be that close to Julenissen, so Mike jumped in... onto Nissen's lap.

It was such a great Christmas. I hope everyone else had a good one as well!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FOLKS!

Pre-Christmas fun

Every year, Mike and I try to go as many Christmas event as possible. We LOVE Christmas and go anywhere we can soak up more Christmas spirit than we already have. This year was so crazy busy that we, unfortunately, didn't get to do as much as we had hoped. Last year we went to a farm where they had horses (wearing Santa hats, let me add) that were giving horse-back-rides to the kids, horse-and-sleigh rides, dog-sledding, and much more. It was a blast!

We weren't able to go to that farm this year, but we did make it to the downtown "julemarked" (Christmas market) at least :) My mom and dad were meeting us there, and Anniken and Marianne showed up as well, so my whole family got to spend the day together!

They had set up art and craft projects for the kids. Aiden made a little Christmas tree that he was SO extremely proud of. He walked around and showed it off to everyone. He even went up to a journalist and showed it to her, so she asked if she could take a picture for her article.
Too cute!

Elliot carved a little 'nisse' (Santa) out of wood and painted it. Mike sat with him incase he wanted help, but Elliot ended up doing most of it himself. I was so impressed! The little 'nisse' was REALLY cute!!!

Elliot loves theater so he was quite excited when my mom told him they were having an outdoor play there. They had blankets set out on the benches so Elliot got to cuddle in with my mom and dad to watch the play.

The first thing Aiden noticed when we got there was the horse, so Mike asked if he wanted to go on a horse-and-sleigh ride with him. Aiden was so excited! He waited patiently in line with Mike and had the biggest smile on his face when it was his turn! I tried to get a picture but people kept going in front of me, so I'll have to put in one of them feeding the horse afterwards instead. ;)

All in all, it was a really good day! It was cold but we managed to stay warm and had a ton of fun!

Christmas cookies

The kids and I LOVE to bake, so this is something we ALL look forward to every year. Aiden and Elliot's favorite is always gingerbread cookies so that's where we started this year. We started in the morning so that's why our little Aiden-bear is still in his pj's ;)

Elliot is amazing when it comes to both cooking and baking. He rarely asks for help and always does a really good job. He knows how to make his mommy proud, that's for sure!


Aiden started out by eating the decorations, but once I showed him how to put frosting on the cookies, he actually got so into it that he forgot about eating the chocolate :-p

Elliot took this decorating this quite serious. It was super cute!

It's times like this that Mike and I just stand back and look at our boys, then look at each other with a big smile. We are so blessed to have such sweet kids!

It's snowing!

It's only the beginning of October and we got SNOW today! I love it :) I don't know if I'm ready for it, but I'm still excited about it.

I'm heading to bed but wanted to post some pictures from today as proof... hehe ;)

Enjoy the fall cuz before you know it, Christmas will be here!!! <3

107 days 'til Christmas

I am SO excited for Christmas!!! Both Aiden and Elliot are old enough now to understand it better and they will appreciate it just that much more. I have so many fun plans for us, and can't wait for all of the simple things:

Playing in the snow

Time with my family

The neighborhood Christmas tree lighting

Taking our kids on sleigh-rides

Taking our family to Pre-Christmas Fun Days

Having extra time at home with our boys

Decorating the Christmas tree

AWWW!!!! I looooove the Christmas season!!! <3