Christmas with the Platts

We have enjoyed our Christmas season!  We debated whether or not we would put up the Christmas tree.  We knew the kids would like it, but we also knew the kids would never leave it alone, and I would spend half my day chasing the kids away from the tree or putting ornaments back on.  Plus, I babysit 3 other kids in the afternoon, so that makes 5 kids under the age of 6 in the house at one time!  In the end, we decided to put it up with lights and minimal ornaments.

The kids made snowman out of balls while we got the living room ready

Laurel helped Dad put the star on top of the tree.

Nicolas also enjoyed putting on ornaments.

Scott decorated the railing by the stairs as well, and we hung up our stockings there.

 Laurel was in the Christmas program at church.  She was a sheep, and basically she sat on the steps through the whole thing, then stood up and sang a song.  Based on her behavior at the rehearsals, I was worried that she would be the kid walking all over and being naughty.  But in the actual production she did a great job sitting on the steps!

Laurel and the other sheep on the steps.

After the service Nicolas tried on the sheep horns

Family Christmas photo

 Scott took Christmas Eve off this year, so we just hung out at home as a family.  I planned a "picnic" supper, and we ate on a picnic blanket on the living room floor and watched the movie "Elf."  The kids pretended to be Buddy the Elf for the rest of the weekend!

After the kids went to bed, we filled stockings and brought their presents upstairs.  They were pretty excited to wake up on Christmas morning and find presents under the tree!

We opened stockings right away, but had to wait until we were dressed and Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Jim came over to open the actual presents.

Have a Merry Christmas!

I sewed a mermaid blanket for Laurel, and she loves it!

We gave Nicolas more dinosaurs with a Dino Truck.

Scott bought me a very nice immersion blender...just what I wanted! 

We will be having our Christmas gathering with the Evenhouse family on New Year's Day.  After that, I suppose we will take the tree down and put the house back into normal mode.