Have a Meow Christmas

As expected, these first 12 days of December zipped right by!  I've done very little Christmas shopping...I guess it's about time, but I just keep putting it off because there's always something else going on!

Lately...

One of the mittens from our Christmas countdown was to play Secret Santa to someone.  The kids decided to take the little gift to one of our neighbors and made them cards to go along with it.  Alexee also made one for their cat.  :)

I thought the inside of the cat's card was funny,

"Have a Meow Christmas!"

They waited until after dark and made a plan to leave the gift on the front porch, ring the doorbell and make a run for the bushes beside the house.  Crosby got confused and ran straight to the bushes when I opened the front door.  :)  It was cute watching him hide and wait for R & A to meet up with him.  They thought it was fun!

They've also been excited to look for Cookie the elf every morning.  One morning he'd toilet-papered the guest bathroom.

We've finished the Christmas decorations.

nativity scene

I didn't put the village out last year because I just didn't think Crosby would leave it alone, but decided to try it this year.  He's been great and likes turning the lights on every morning.

It was 70 degrees again last Sunday, but they wore Christmas clothes anyway.

I thought this picture was cute!  My sister took it of Alexee when A went with her to feed at my parents' house last weekend.  Alexee is always looking for a chance to go see the cats at the barn.  I'm sure they were happy to see her with this giant bag of food!

Last Thursday was our last school prayer group for the semester, so after the prayer time we celebrated with lunch together at Beth's house.  I've loved getting to know Beth and Natalie, group-leaders, and all the other girls better this year.  Beth made a chicken salad and an awesome cheesecake!  They gave each of us these super cute signs from Re-deemed Home Goods.

Cheesecake Recipe:

One evening I went to the store while Alexee took her bath.  When I got back home, she'd taught Lane to braid (using the tail of her rocking horse as a model) and he'd done her hair!  :)

We had lunch with Lane on one of his days off, and Crosby had his picture made by Santa there.

Another countdown mitten:  "Elf-Yourself" (Pinterest).  We blew up their school photos on the copy machine.  They hung them on their bedroom doors along with the gingerbread men they drew.

And one night we did a candle-light dinner with Christmas music.

Alexee's teacher sent me this of her with two of her sweet friends.

Hope you're having a great holiday season!