Christmas Count Down

We have officially started the count down to Christmas. Last Saturday we attended Prestoncrest's "Ho Ho Ho Breakfast". This is one of my favorite events that they put on. The theme was "Jingle Bell Rock" and it was so much fun.
Autumn and Aaron joined us for the morning of merriment.
We started with a breakfast full of yummy treats. Holden especially liked the powdered sugar donuts!
Here are the guests of honor, Mr. and Mrs. Clause.
Look how sweet these friends are all dressed up in their pajamas!
I love crying baby Santa pictures- that might seem mean, but I just think it's so funny. Poor Holden did not like the man in red.

After breakfast and pictures with Santa, we started the craft rotation. First, we made our sacks to carry all the goodies.
Holden and Aaron rocked out with the bells while the bigger kids made the crafts. They loved having this area of the room to play all sorts of instruments.
We made reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn for those hungry reindeer that will visit us Christmas Eve.
Holden loved Mrs. Claus's house. He couldn't wait for her to read him a story.

We ended the morning with the Hughes' family gift exchange at Aunt Kim's house. I kinda like spreading out all the gift giving so all the presents can be appreciated instead of overlooked. The boys have loved playing with their new puzzles and coloring books. And there is the bonus that since they are busy, I have a chance to get some cleaning done- what a perk!

Today we ventured over to Aunt Kim's house for a morning of cookie making craziness!
Holden decided he'd much rather just eat the dough than roll it out and make shapes with it (he's a lot like his mother).
The big kids worked so hard to make all the fun Christmas shapes- reindeer, bells, stockings, gingerbread men, Christmas trees- it's hard to tell what the favorite was.

Isn't he a cute little baker?

Can you see what I see? I see a mouthful of cookie dough!
We decided to stick with "painting" the icing on just to keep things simple.


But, everyone mostly just started eating the cookies, or even just licking all the icing instead of decorating and waiting 'til later to have them as a treat.

We now have a plate full of cookies to munch on the rest of the week. I wonder if Santa would like one of our creations? Can't believe we only have four more days to pack in the rest of our fun!