Aars 5: Christmas and more!

William here...

I just love Christmas. I loved every moment leading up to it, and the day itself of course! You know, it's really about celebrating Jesus' birthday! And He loves to have fun!

It always starts at Thanksgiving. This year, I wanted to be a Pilgrim with my brother and cousins, and Ellie wanted to be an Indian princess. You know why Grandma J. calls me "pumpkin pie"? Because I LOVE pumpkin pie. I ate more pie than almost everyone else. Yum.

The next day we picked out our tree. Daddy is so strong he even chops it down himself. Then we decorated it that day. I loved putting up all my ornaments. When I woke up the next morning, I told my mom, "It's just too beautiful."

We also saw a play that weekend at a theater, "A Silent Night for Peef." I was more interested in the backdrops than the play (the story went so long!), to be honest. But it was fun.

Other fun things we did before Christmas? ...

Made ornaments and saw reindeer & Mrs. Claus at a local holiday event.

Made "Gingerbread" (graham cracker) Houses.

Sang at our preschool Christmas program--13 songs and poems!

Saw Santa.

Made Christmas cookies--we had so many different cookie cutters from our Aunt Allison and Uncle Michael!

And every morning we got to wake up to candy in the Advent house and we read a little story out of our Advent book. Gosh...talking about this makes me miss Christmas already. How many more days...?

Joshua here...

Christmas finally came. On Christmas Eve, we spent the day with our Jorgenson family. We did some songs and a nativity play that our grandma planned for us. We ate a yummy meal (HAM!). Then...we opened gifts. Star Wars light sabers, Legos and a lot more! Then we got army guys and motorcycles from our Uncle Joe, and even tons of Color Wonder markers and books from our Aunt Jodi and Uncle Mark. So much fun.

At church that night, I sang lots of songs. My favorites were "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Away in a Manger." Real animals were on stage!

When we got home, we set out our cookies for Santa, lit our Advent candles, and read "Twas the Night Before Christmas." I thought I'd never sleep, but...I must've been tired cuz I don't remember even putting my head on the pillow.

William and I woke up at 7 the next morning and got Ellie up so we could go see if Santa came. HE DID!!!! We got everything we asked for...a Mickey Mouse camper for me (and a surprise extra--two Star Wars planes!), a pirate ship for William, and a Disney princess castle for Ellie. We played all day. I loved using my Mickey camper, especially after I watched one of the cool movies my Aunt Heather and Uncle Christian had sent us--a Mickey Mouse camping movie! It was great. And after the day wound down, we wrapped up in our new towels that even have our names on it, from Grandma and Grandpa Aars. Cozy! Thanks everyone!

Ellie here...

We thought we'd get to show you our cool snow forts that we made with daddy over Christmas also, but...we didn't get to make any this year! We had NO SNOW for Christmas. Can you believe it? I cried a little bit and worried Santa wouldn't make it. Then mommy reminded me that Santa takes care of children even if they're not from a snowy state.

Anyway, I wanted to show you a few pictures from the 5 days or so that we have had a few inches of snow this year.