Christmas DAY *SANTA*

Christmas morning the kids had to wait until Daddy got home from work (around 9am) before they could open presents...they were really patient and so very excited to see what Santa got for them:)  We had our traditional bfast (our favourite) eggs benedict...yummy!  Everyone got spoiled this year especially me:) Matt surprised me with a new Mac Laptop and the New Nutra Bullet that I've been excited about for making smoothies and shakes:)  Nana and Papa and Jeff and Robyn all sent gifts too so we were able to skype and see them too.  It was a great morning and so fun to see how excited and grateful the kids were:)  Merry Christmas!!

Santa pulled through and got Parks his Eco Dome Bug Catcher!!

Santa got Grace just what she asked for too...Pet Shop Playset!! Thanks Santa:)

Christmas EVE!!

Matt was home all day Christmas Eve, but sadly had his night shift that night and Christmas Day night:( We missed him so much, but were very grateful he could be back home Christmas morning for presents and have the day together again!!

This was the 'Hill' family year to get together for Christmas, so on Christmas Eve its the Hill Tradition to eat supper at the Big Rock Chinese Buffet...we took up half the restaurant!! After that we go to one of the Okotoks retirement homes and rein act the Nativity Story for the Seniors there.  Its pretty great;)  The cousins love getting all dressed up and being together...its a bit chaotic but always works out just fine:)

Everyone at the Restaurant... angle one...

...angle two...

Angle three...

At the Retirement Home: Our sweet little Shepherd boys

Our sweet little Angel girls

My most favourite picture of all...makes me so proud and grateful that these two cuties are mine:)

Our pretty tree on Christmas eve...before Santa comes...kids got to open one present each before bed...new pjs!!! 

Indoor Skating fun!

This was a fun idea that Sue came up with...it was too freezing cold to enjoy outdoor skating as a family so they rented the indoor skating rink in town and split it with the Lyons and Byam families.

 This was Parks' 2nd or 3rd time skating...Matt made him the trainer bar and he did awesome with skates that were way too big for him!

December is HERE!

December 1st it is our tradition to set up the Christmas tree and decorate it... and this year, thanks to our good friend Brooke Byam she introduced me to the 'Christmas Advent Chain' so starting Dec 1st until Christmas Eve the kids have a chain to open with a fun activity, craft or service to do together as a family:) The kids were pumped and it was nice to do fun things together and have the Christmas Spirit be with us even more!  So some of the memorable things we did were make a gingerbread house (which we failed miserably at, it collapsed with a candy overload so we pretended a tornado hit it;)) we had a 'San Francisco' supper with Gran and Grandad over..(eating spaghetti with not so normal utensils).  We had a movie theatre day (miss school) out, we saw Rise of the Guardians in 3D! We did a very sneaky anonymous cookie drop off at some friends houses'...the kids were so slow at running away that most everyone saw us...haha.  The kids made salt dough ornaments with their hand prints (Ammo ate Grace's right off the tree...).  We went to the Live outdoor Nativity Pageant with the Allred's... something we have gone to every year since having kids...I highly recommend it!  We did a swimming night out... Tim Horton's Donut and Hot Chocolate night out...where the cutest senior couple watched us chow down and told us we had the million dollar family:) awwww... a bunch more things...It really made our Christmas that much better getting to do these fun little things that we probably wouldn't have gotten around to with all the business of the Christmas Season.  Merry Christmas!!

This was my first year doing a fancy Christmas card...kinda fun!

Gingerbread Disaster

Silly San Fran Supper

Movie Day!

Outdoor Nativity Pageant 

I almost forgot about our other new tradition!! This little lady came into our family this year.  The kids named her Snowflake, she is from the North Pole.  Her job is to hide in a new place in our house everyday and watch over the kids...making sure they are being nice to each other...and every night she flies back to the North Pole and lets Santa know whether they had been nauty or nice;) BUT if anyone touches her she will lose her magic and not be able to fly back to Santa in the North Pole.  The kids adore her to say the least, and cannot wait to find out where she is and what mess she's gotten herself into...in this picture she got into the shortbread cookies and left a trail of crumbs everywhere!!

Parks and Grace all ready for church the Sunday before Christmas:) I really wish I would stop being so lazy and use my good camera instead of my crappy iphone for pictures like these..

Time to Meet SANTA!

The kids were very excited to get to meet Santa!! Luckily Santa was at Bass Pro Shop so Daddy was more than happy to bring us all the way out there to get some pictures with Santa Claus:) Parks ended up being a little shy once he had to sit on Santa but was sure to tell him what he wanted for Christmas:)

Getting ready for CHRISTMAS!!

Early November the kids kept asking and asking and asking when they could send Santa their letters...so after Remembrance Day ( I always try and let that day come and be a special day than move on to Christmas shortly after) we finally marched off to the mailbox to mail their letters!...I wish I would have taken pictures of what they wrote....so cute.  Parks was very insistent on asking for a 'bug dome catcher' and Grace thought a 'pet shop playset' would be nice from Santa... we put our Christmas lights up outside the house and our new Snowman lights from Nana... I love Christmas time!

Matt in his special #1s uniform on Remembrance Day before going to work

Letters to Santa!!

Another reason to love the Christmas Season is because Hunting Season comes to an end December 1st and no more 'moosestaches' !! This is Matt at one of his fullest times..haha

Family Photoshoot!!!

In November, our good friend Randea Prince took pictures of our little family...kind of our first little photoshoot! It was really fun, a bit chilly but our fabulous photographer brought us hot chocolate, so we sucked it up;)