Celebrating Christmas

We had such a wonderful time celebrating christmas this year.  It was a little sad to not be with family, but it was also fun to celebrate with just the three (almost four) of us.  I am very thankful for the group of friends we have here in Bentonville and they make it feel like family.

It was so fun to see the christmas spirit through the eyes of a three year old.  This was the first year she really understood what was going on. Hannah really enjoyed her advent calendar.  We talked a lot about the meaning of christmas (she acted out the christmas story with our new Nativity Set all the time).  She warmed up to Santa just a little bit.  We celebrated with friends, saw the lights on the Fayetteville square and built a Gingerbread house.

Christmas Party and White Elephant gift exchange with friends.  We determined this was the eights year we have done this.  It doesn't seem possible.....it is always one of my favorite nights of the year.  I love the friendships we have with this group and it is so exciting to see all of our kids run around together now.

The kids table

A visit to the Fayetteville square.  The lights are so beautiful!

On Christmas Eve we went to church with Jenny and Dave and then enjoyed a Honey Baked Ham dinner.  The forecast said that we could have a white christmas, so we were all excited about that (it never happened for us in NWA).  We baked cookies for Santa and left out carrots for the reindeer.

On Christmas morning Hannah discovered that Santa ate most of her cookies and he left her a note

He also drank the milk

Santa brought the police car that Hannah had been asking for (it was a little bit of a tease though, because we didn't charge it on time, so she had to wait another 24 hours before being able to drive it)

Another big surprise from Oma and Opa......a really big dollhouse (I need to get better at reading dimensions when ordering online, this happens a lot to me)

Hannah also got a Doc McStuffins outfit, which she had to put on right away

The next day she was finally able to test out the car

She loves to play police now....she will chase you and put you in jail.

All three of us had a great christmas.