Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

The festivities begin tonight with our annual "Henderson Christmas" and will continue through the week.  We are looking forward to spending lots of time as a family.  Have a great Christmas season!

Love from The Loewen Family

:)

Visiting Santa!

Tonight we took the boys to see Santa!  They were both super excited and happy to sit right up on his lap.  Maguire of course wasn't too sure about leaving Cody, but he sat so quietly while Ryker talked away.  I think this picture expresses perfectly the events of the visit.  Ryker talking and entertaining Santa while Maguire sat without making a sound.  hehe!!

Ryker was so excited to tell Santa all about his birthday, that when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas they decided together that he would bring a surprise!!  I was quite relieved since you never know what they're going to ask for...so there's a little bit of pressure to find that perfect gift.  This way...whatever he gets he'll be soooo excited for!!  (He would actually be excited for anything really...he's the type of kid that loves anything and everything!).

Maguire on the other hand asked for Wall E again this year...which is the first time I've heard him ask for that since he got it last year.  But he is going to love whatever Santa brings!!

I think I'm just as excited as them :)

Our mall did things different this year...you had to bring toys or make a donation to the Christmas Bureau and you could take your own pictures instead of hiring a photographer.  I loved this idea since it's nice to see people donating to help those in need.  BUT...the Santa setup was so dark that it was hard to get a good picture that wasn't grainy.  And that was even using my camera that takes great pictures in low light!!  It's one of those moments where you wish you could just take a little more time to get that perfect shot, but you really don't have the time and you just gotta snap what you can get before the moment passes.  It's a cute Santa snapshot...it's good.  I'm happy with it.....

Now just over a week until the holiday party begins starting with my friend Christmas...then "The Henderson Family" Christmas, and then off to the cabin with my own little family!!!  I can't wait :)

I really need to go finish up my Christmas cards.  I made it a much bigger job this year than it needed to be.  But they're cute!!

K :)

Countdown!

This year I decided to do something different for our advent calendar.  In past years I've bought the playmobile advent, or left little treats and surpises in our little Christmas chair backer, but this year in all honesty I just didn't have the time to go buy and collect 25 items.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but we've been sick and Cody's been working lots that it hasn't been on my list of things to do.  And suddenly December was creeping up and I hadn't done anything.  Thankfully there are a million creative people on the web that share endless ideas :)

One idea that I had remembered from years ago was a Christmas book advent.  I knew that this was possible since I already owned a bunch of Christmas books (one of my favorite things for any holiday is having a little basket of books for that occasion).  So I scrounged up all the Christmas books I could find and even gathered a couple of Christmas puzzles and wrapped them all up!  I didn't care which order we went in...what book was for what day etc. so after all the books were wrapped I added numbers.

Super simple...and I know my kids are going to love it!

Incase you're doing your advent calendar last minute like me ;)....here are a couple of other ideas I found recently!

delia creates  (she shares a few different ideas, but she made some really cute advents using 2 packs of gum!  Now that is simple!!)

I absolutely LOVED this one...but needed something super simple.  Just might try and make one tonight though cause it's sooooo cute!!

This one is really cute from Martha!  My friend made a similar one that is really cute!

I've seen sooooo many that I loved........

The countdown starts tomorrow!!!

K :)

Just a few more....

And Christmas is over....

Hard to believe how quickly it goes.  We had a wonderful Christmas and loved every minute.  The kids thought it was great...Santa even left a little note for Ryker!  He was sooooo excited that "Santa wrote his name!"  We almost could have left Christmas with just that and he would have been happy ;)  But since he was a good boy this year Santa also left presents!  Maguire and Ryker both were spoiled and have been enjoying some new toys to play with.

Cody and I have been working on some other projects around here...with a lot of help from my Dad!!!  It's always nice having family close by to help with those kinds of things.  And Cody totally threw his back out and has hardly been able to get out of bed, so it's been a huge help to me.  My dad even stayed for a few minutes after today to play Mario Kart with Ryker!  That made his day :)

I'll be sooooo sad when Christmas holidays are over.  We've loved having Cody around (even if he has been stuck in bed pretty much the past couple of days!).  I thought I'd share a couple more layouts from my December Daily.  I'm so proud of myself for finishing this little project this month...why not throw one more thing into the mix of a busy month??!!  haha!!  It will be fun to look at next year and to remember all the things we did this month.  I kept my journaling pretty short, so maybe next year I can improve on that.   hmm.  

I loved this project sooooo much, that it's got me thinking a lot about this.  I LOVED being back in my room and being creative...and I honestly only spent a few minutes a day (30 at max) working on my layout.  If I could get myself organized a bit more I might just attempt a little project life this year.  It might just start with one month at a time, but how cool is it to look back at the everyday life we live!!  I did order some of the pocket pages and was thinking of maybe coming up with my own cards to fill it with, but the project life kits are so cute!  Hard to resist....  And really with where my life is at right now...I have two small children who need me...and I love being there with them...so my scrapbooking life just isn't the same.  Things change and that's okay.


Really contemplating my goals for the year....in all areas of my life.  I really love this time of year to reflect back on the year and to look ahead.  It's got me thinking!!


K :)

Enjoy this holiday season :)

Kim