Christmas at Home (in Kansas City)

The older Arlee gets, the more enjoyable the Christmas holidays become. He is really getting into the spirit of it and his enthusiasm is very contagious. He loved helping me decortate the Christmas village and of course he enjoyed his Christmas tree...definitely one of the best things I made for him a few years back

With such a busy schedule going  out of town with family, we did not get to participate in many of the local events. But we did want to make sure he was able to visit with Santa and get his picture made.

We were thrilled when our Pastor's wife shared that she would be Mrs Clause for one of the local outlet malls and invited us to visit them on their PJ's with Santa night.

Arlee was super excited to find out he would get to see Santa and have milk and cookies with him. The whole event was first class. The children met in the lobby area around a fireplace where Mrs Clause read them a story. The kiddos were given milk and cookies and then they each received a copy of the book she
read.

                                                                   Waiting for Santa

                                                             Our sweet preacher's wife

Then the moment came and the Jolly Old Man came out and greeted all the kids. They sang songs and then they each had the opportunity to line up and spend time in Santa's lap for pictures. Unfortunately, Arlee fell out of an igloo while waiting and had no desire to sit in Santa's lap or take a picture. He did brave up enough to tell Mr. Clause what he wanted to Christmas, which sounded something like this, "Choo-choo choes", "Minney Mask", Thomas, "Choo-Choo Choes" and Nemo game. Which interpreted is Paw Patrol, P.J. Mask, Thomas the train, Paw Patrol again and a Nemo movie and game for his Leap Frog game. I was so proud he found his nerve to talk to St. Nick.

        This was after his little accident and Lee read to him to calm him down....what a sweet Daddy!!

                       This was the closest he would get to Santa, but at least it's something!

So, with Christmas Eve on hand it hit me that I had not taken any Christmas pics of Arlee and decided a quick photo shoot in his pj's was a must. I was excited on how well these last minute pictures turned out and the story that goes with it is priceless.

 It a ll starts off with him sitting by the tree refusing to smile, when all of a sudden I get a cute little smirk from him and I see him wiggling and then he looks down at a the big wet spot he created on my nice burlap tree skirt!!!   Yep, he peed right on my skirt...Oh, the memories! So we changed his PJ's and snapped a sweet picture of him looking a Christmas books. I won't overload you on all hundred of them...lol

Then of course, cookies and his list and off to bed so Daddy can get busy putting  his train set together...I think this has become another tradition!!

                                                                Daddy working hard...

Before we knew it, it was Christmas morning and Santa had come and gone, leaving behind all kind of goodies for Arlee. But before he was able to tear into his gifts, we read about the real "Reason for the Season" in Luke 2

                                                       trying to snap a quick family photo.....

 He loved both of his train sets

 I was pretty excited about this Christmas village Thomas the Train, I found it at Bargain Hunt for $25. It was normally retails for over $100!!!....score!

He enjoyed playing with all of his new treasures, but  all too quickly it was time to get ready for church and celebrate the birth of our Savior and remember the true meaning of Christmas. It's not in the ribbons or bows, the gifts or the bags, it's so much more than all of that.... It was a beautiful Christmas morning and I love celebrating and making memories with my little family!

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