Twas the week before Christmas...

The fourth weekend of Advent was wonderful for us. This post is mostly full of pictures because they tell the story so well! Friday we were able to get back to school (hallelujah!) and have our Christmas parties. Saturday evening, Tony and I were planning to host our annual Christmas Open House. The kids helped us clean up during the day. Well, the boys helped clean and Sophie just made more mess. Here she is wearing Tony's wet fire boots - quite proud of herself in her diaper-and-pajama-top ensemble.
Our soiree was very enjoyable - we always enjoy seeing friends that live out of town and come in for the holidays. Often our party is the only time we have some of these friends over all year. I think our last guests left around 12:30, making for a late but wonderful night. On Sunday we had a busy day planned...

Ready for church - too cute not to take a picture!

Andrew's friend had a bowling birthday party. Tony and I rented a lane and took Aidan and Sophie bowling. It was Sophie's first try.

After the party, we went to mom and dad's for dinner and cookie baking. Ever since I can remember, we've made a date out of making and decorating sugar cookies. My cousin April and I used to do it, but now the kiddos have made it their tradition with grandma.

Clowning around while waiting on dinner:

After an awesome dinner of roasted chicken and veggies, we bravely began the cookie process.

Roll:

Cut:

And decorate (can you tell which ones the boys did?):

Tired cookie baker

Today (Monday) was our first day of Christmas vacation and I made good use of it. I had my physical/thyroid check this morning, followed by the boys' yearly physicals this afternoon. For dinner, we had pasta alfredo with asparagus and garlic bread - using my special Christmas pasta.
After dinner, we intended to head to Bass Pro to try for Santa again. On the way, Tony suggested we drive to Charlestown to see their light display, which has gotten a great reputation. What a great choice! They have the park and town square totally decorated, including animated lights that "dance" with the music. The boys' favorite were two lighted snowmen who had a snowball fights and told corny jokes. Sophie's favorite was Santa. There was also a "train" shuttle to ride and carriage rides. We skipped the rides because Tony wasn't wearing a coat and it was snowing. The snow made for a gorgeous evening and added to the ambiance of the evening. It was perfect!




We've several things planned this week, so I'll try to stay on top of things a little better! Five days until Christmas!