Holiday Festivities

I went to take some pictures of my friend's baby girl in her blessing dress, and since we were snapping I tried to get a few of my own kiddos- here are a few of the highlights :)

After pictures a few more friends joined us to make graham cracker gingerbread houses.

Hannah was more interested in eating the decorations than decorating with them, but with some instruction and a good example from her brother she got the picture.

Great work Nathan!

When she had decorated  and eaten what she wanted, Hannah decided she wanted to lay down in the dog's crate! She asked Nathan to lock her in, so he did- and she laid contently in there! Guess the bed was comfy :)

Here's Nathan with his lovely house. Great job!

A few days later we got to experience one of the Christmas wonders of Oklahoma:

The Christmas Train

Getting our tickets was no easy task! I had actually heard about the Christmas train last year from a friend in the area. She told me about it around the summer time, and told me the night before that tickets were going on sale the next morning. I put it on my list of things to do the next morning after my run. She asked me on our run if I had gotten tickets and when I said "not yet" she sighed and said, "ah well, maybe next year." Yep. Turns out it sold out within 30 minutes. 

So, this year I was prepared! As soon as tickets went on sale I tried to get some but the site locked up and shut down. Every time I got the page to reload the day I was trying to get tickets for was sold out. 

Finally I called Jeremy in frustration and he was able to get in and get tickets for us using his work connection. Yay!

We all went, but Levi stayed asleep in his stroller as I figured it was best to leave it that way!

The Christmas train was so much more than just a train- it was a whole village!

It is a little western town with  shops, restaurants, a huge park, and rides.

They had the whole place decked out with lights, and even old time carolers in the street!

The weather was pleasant, but after a while outside a stop by one of many of the fire pits around town was nice.

We even got to meet the Sheriff!

Hannah was too shy to go meet him, but he came to her anyways :)

After eating some delicious bbq we went to ride the train. The kids were SO excited to get to ride a real steam engine!

Flash photography was not permitted, so this is the best I could get, but it was an AWESOME ride. The train took us past several artistic depictions of biblical events and was narrated by several verses of scripture. First, we went through a tunnel with a 3D display of planets and stars, representing the creation. There were large billboard size paintings of sea animals and jungles, etc. Then, amidst the paintings of the life of Christ there were 3 live scenes: His birth, His crucifixion and is resurrection. 

The kids really enjoyed it, and so did we. AMAZING.

Before they shut down we had just enough time to ride the carousel! Yay!

The next festive thing is really cool- no pun intended :)

We had an ice storm and it was one of the most beautiful things ever, it was like our entire town transformed into Narnia!

Pictures can't do it justice, and I kick myself for not trying to get family photos in front of one of the glens of "glass" trees. But, here are a few of the pictures I do have that show the ice.

Each blade of grass was coated with ice. When we walked on it, it sounded like glass breaking!

Branches and berries were entirely surrounded in a very clear, thick layer of ice!

Anyways, I think it's cool :)

And with cold and snowy weather comes.... lots and LOTS of baking!

As you may have seen in the picture of our steak dinner for the 12 Days of Christmas, we had a plethora of baked goods about.

I don't know what came over me, but every day of the week preceding Christmas I decided to make monstrous proportions of some goodie.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the goodies and the plates we made, but I didn't :(

I ended up 26 cookie plates and plenty to spare for us and our company through the holidays. In fact, we ended up sending Ken and Cathy home with all the left-overs to split between themselves and Dan and Jamie.

Somewhere in the middle of making pumpkin bread, fudge, butterballs, sugar cookies and frosting, and peanut butter cookies- I broke my mixer!

Here is my heroic hubby taking it apart and fixing it. Sadly, however, after minimal continued use after the fix it burnt out and I just ran to Walmart and bought a new one.

 

What did we do with 26 cookie plates? LOTS and LOTS of caroling! Nathan and Hannah did a great job, and it was fun to carol to people they know! We started on the Sunday before Christmas and finally finished on Christmas Eve.

One quick story on Nathan: Hannah wanted to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" while caroling and I kept trying to explain to her that it was not a Christmas song- that Christmas songs are about baby Jesus, like Away in a Manger and Silent Night. Nathan pipped up and asked me, "Mom, what part of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is about baby Jesus?" ...  good point! So, we got to discuss the 2 sides of Christmas- one about Baby Jesus, the shepherd and wise men, etc. and the other with Santa and Reindeer and snowmen, etc. I guess he got it, because he said, "just like Easter has two sides! One about Jesus' resurrection and the other about eggs and bunnies and treats!"

Such a smart boy!