Christmas Kick off

On Tuesday night, we had the band Christmas party. It was a lot of fun for Abbey, and Chad and I actually enjoyed it too. (My friend Jen and I were in charge of it this year and I must say it was great.) The potluck dinner was delicious and interesting (people brought everything from ham to sushi, tamales, and jambalaya) and doing crafts with the kids was fun.

Chad and the girls relax in front of the fire... Jen and her husband Denny built/painted the faux fireplace out of boxes! Doesn't it look great? That's Abbey's jingle bell bracelet creation on Chad's head.

Of course, the highlight of the evening was a visit from Santa. Abbey remembered this from last year's party and had been talking about it all day before the party. She even said she was going to say "Ho ho ho" back to Santa.

This is Abbey NOT talking to Santa. But she has not stopped talking about it since!

Elliott is partied out.

Smart Santa brought Abbey a fun new toy for her upcoming plane trip, and he brought Elliott something wrapped in paper... that was all she cared about!

This really did kick off the Christmas season for us. Abbey is now in full blown Christmas mode, talking about Santa and Rudolph and singing Jingle Bells and asking me to sing "the Spanish one" aka Feliz Navidad. But despite my slightly Grinch-y tendencies (there is not one single decoration up at out house, nor will there be before we go to Texas) I am excited about this Christmas season as Abbey starts to understand more and more about baby Jesus, and family traditions, and getting gifts for others. I hope you are all off to a very merry Christmas season at your house.