St. Nicholas Days

For our family, preparing our home for Christmas begins in earnest on December 6th, St. Nicholas Day. Following our tradition, we baked some cookies for neighbors on the 5th. And for the first time, we made cut out gingerbread men. Russell (above) and Thomas taking decorating the cookies very seriously.

Elliot with his hot cocoa and miniature marshmallows more interested in devouring the icing. And yes, it is true, the Wonder Twins apparently have an issue with staying completely dressed throughout the day.

As I have mentioned before, Thomas, early on, declared that Lucia was his twin. But on this day, Russell decided to cast off Elliot and claim Lucia as his twin. Mrs. McGoodles playing one of her favorite games and Russell delighting in his little sister.

St. Nicholas Day morning. Finding the presents and gold coins left in the shoes. When I related that St. Nicholas had come, Russell looked out the window and questioned where his car was. That might have been my favorite moment of the day. Russell, especially loved the chocolate coins and we had to practically beg him to open his gift while realizing that he had five chocolates crushed in his hand. We also had a lovely evening with Zach and Tesi and family and Jake and Leslie (who are leaving next week for Ethiopia in order to meet their precious daughter who is only four months younger than LuLu bird) and family. In total there were 17 of us; 11 of which were children. Unfortunately, the pictures of the kids playing were blurry.

Thomas with his new Harry Potter Lego set.

Delivering the cookies.

Jared took Tuesday off and we went to our favorite Christmas tree farm, Mumma's, to purchase our tree. Russell and Elliot were out of the van for mere seconds before they stated, "we're freezing," and rejoined Lucia and me. Russell above.

And Elliot. I promise I bought matching hats and mittens on Saturday but Jared was in charge of getting the boys dressed and our communication skills are obviously lacking.

My men.

And finally on the 8th, Thomas and I decorated the tree. Thomas was very pleased to create a manger scene. Pretty sweet. And though you can't really see it, there are popcorn strings which Jared, Thomas, and I strung together hanging on the tree. Thomas has vowed to string more today.