our christmas in {a lot of} photos

i worked night shift on christmas eve this year, so i took the easy way out and decided on hosting a pajama style christmas brunch.  we had a great time.  prepare yourself for photo overload!

 

 drink station

hot chocolate bar

he liked eating my marshmallows.  he calls them cheese.  

(don't ask me why!)

most of our pajama gang

i have a feeling we are going to be here awhile!

a fire is a necessity for appropriate present opening scene setting.

 who needs toys when there are bows

 i think uncle pat is still sleeping!

quit with the camera, momma. 

she must have gotten something good, but i can't remember what she was opening... 

 what?! its a tradition.

the two big hits from santa. 

skiing. of course. 

the only picture of the three of us.  

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the aftermath...

 b and i played in the paper...

grammy and papa danced...

and uncle shaun took a nap...

 overall, a great time was had by all. {i hope}

we hope you all had a wonderful christmas.

love to you all!

holiday happenings...

i tried to do the pinterest 25 books of christmas, but only ended up with 12 books.  so the 12 days books of christmas it was.   brody picked out some special penguin paper (since we were fresh off the great penguin splashing incident of 2012)...  these photos were from night #1.  as the nights went on, he got tired of momma always trying to take his picture.  

 so far, he has really enjoyed getting a new christmas book to read before bed each night.  

 i wanted to make sure that b understood that christmas wasn't just about Santa... so i got him the fisher price nativity set.  he really likes playing with his baby jesus.

 except for when baby jesus climbs onto the roof of the manger... that is a dangerous place for a baby! 

brody got a letter the other day, with a return address from S. Claus.   

 he was really excited to open it and relieved to hear that he had been a good boy this year and he was most likely getting his airplane he asked for.  he was less impressed that santa said he needed to eat more vegetables. 

 daddy took brody to his schools breakfast with santa (i was working).  he got his picture taken with santa and mrs. claus, made a christmas craft and ate waffles and sausage.  he had a great time!  

 here, he was rethinking his christmas requests.  this is where the candy cane got added to the wish list.  an airplane and a candy cane?  i think santa can handle that!

a few more holiday happenings to catch up on.  coming soon.  i hope.

wild lights.

one of the things i wanted to add to our holiday traditions this year was a visit to our zoo's holiday light display.  

we dressed brody in lots of layers,  loaded him into his stroller, decked him out with christmas lights and headed to the zoo.  

we got tons of compliments on the lights on his stroller.  

(i can't take credit for the idea though... thanks mikayla for the great idea at boo at the zoo this fall)

the three of us, outside the penguin house. 

we had a little encounter at the penquin house.  b is still talking about it.  

we were getting up close and personal with some of the penguins.  i was actually holding brody and a "juvenile" penquin, by the name of abby, came up and splashed us both.  we were pretty well soaked.  brody has been telling the story over and over of how the penny got him and mommy wet.

this photo was pre-penny splashing

 we had a little dinner...

 took some pictures...

 and visited with an elf.  

 

they had a great light display. we will definitely be adding this to our yearly holiday traditions!