Twas the Night Before Christmas

With Brykn finally understanding Santa and the reindeer, Christmas Eve this year was really special. These pictures are of us making reindeer food, putting milk and cookies out for Santa, the pj's given to Brykn by Bandit (our dog) and the toys that Santa brought.

The 12 Days of Christmas

Each year we do the 12 Days of Christmas for someone in our neighborhood. Its a lot of fun for Brykn to knock and run and I get a big kick out of it too! This year, though, Hunsaker's did the 12 Days of Christmas for us! What a surprise! It was the funnest thing! Each day they delivered a toy that was part of the Nativity Scene. When all was over, we had a manger, a shepherd, a camel, a donkey, 3 wisemen, 2 sheep, Mary, Joseph, an angel, and baby Jesus. This was so nice of Hunsakers, and certainly something that Brykn looked forward to every night.

Grandpa Mike's Party

Every year on the 23rd we get together with Brandon's Dad and Dustin's family for a get-together. Since Christmas is such a busy time and Christmas day seems to be chaotic, we learned years ago that exchanging gifts and getting together before the holiday is the best to make sure we get to spend some time with Mike.

This year I found a couple games that we had a TON of fun with. The first was a gift exchange where I read a story that has the words "left" and "right" many times throughout the story. Every time a "left" or "right" is said, we pass presents to the person that direction of us. So fun! The other game proved to be the funniest--we split into family teams with Addison joining Mike for his team. Each team was given a pair of girls pantyhose and 8 balloons. The object of the game was blow up the balloons, stuff the legs of the pantyhose, and put the hose on the head of the child on your team so they looked like a reindeer! Oh my! It was very fun!

Breakfast with Santa

For the past 3 years we have been to see Santa at the mall--a quick encounter that isn't all that personal. This year I found out that Santa was hosting breakfast at the Davis Conference Center for all the "good" girls and boys. So, I bought tickets. We had so much fun! I made Brykn an invitation for breakfast, wrote a letter from Santa, and put it in the mailbox the day before breakfast. When Brykn got home, I had him go get the mail. He came in the house and Brandon told him that there was a letter for him. His little ears perked right up! As he was trying to get it open, I asked him who it was from and he told me, "From the mailman." Such a simple question--such a simple answer. I couldn't argue with him--all the mail comes from the mailman.

After he opened it, he said, "It's from SANTA!" Beats me how he knew who it was from, he can't read yet. I read the card to him and when I got to the part about breakfast, he got so excited! He kept telling Brandon, "Santa wants me to go to breakdast with him, Dad!" His excitement was hysterical!

Then, he called Grandma Lauri to see if she got an "inbitation" for breakfast. Luckily, Santa had "inbited" her and Grandpa Buck. Whewww!

The next morning we arrived at breakfast with a boy who was so excited he could hardly stand still. While we were in line to get to our table, Santa came by to talk to Brykn. The first thing Brykn did was stick out his hand to shake with Santa--I had to laugh--he does remember his manners! Then, he promptly asked Santa, "Where did you park your reindeer?" Santa, quick on his feet said, "On the roof! They are clear to the very back of the roof." That seemed to pacify Brykn pretty good. The two of them talked for just a minute before we were seated.

The buffet was awesome and there were some kids choirs that served as entertainment. They also had a magician and Grinch wandering around. Santa sat in a huge chair at the end of the room and the kids could go talk to him whenever they wanted. They also had face painting and cookie decorating--something Brykn really got a kick out of.

We had such a fun time--"Breakdast" with Santa is definately going to be a staple tradition for us from here on out!

Ted Doesn't Know it Either...

More and more Brykn is saying the funniest things. Today, as we were watching the Red Skins playing football and they were about to execute a stupid play, Brandon said, "Man, the Red Skins are idiots." Brykn popped up and quickly said, "No, Dad! The Red Skins are Indians." Then, after a really brief pause, continued, "It's okay Dad, Ted doesn't know it either." I laughed myself sick and Brandon stood 100% corrected. The fact that he corrected the Indian for the Idiot was funny, but even funnier is the fact that Ted is Brykn's stuffed bear. Brykn was trying to make Brandon feel better by telling him that Ted didn't know the difference either, but considering that Ted has safety pins holding his ragged little body together and is brainless (literally), it really wasn't a compliment. Too funny!