Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We spent most of Christmas Eve getting ready for Santa.

Cookies were made.

(Levi took a break during the cookie baking time to Skype with his cousins and Grandpa and Grandma in Nashville!)

Treats were left out for Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer gang.

A letter, soy-nog, and cookies were left for the big man in red.

Today, we spent the day playing!
Presents (with a break to set up the cool race track Santa brought) were opened.
Many games of Candy Land were played.  Of which Mommy won...none!
Important long naps were taken.

My sister and Travis came over for a great Christmas dinner of herb crusted beef tenderloin, root vegetable gratin, and bourbon bread pudding!  We stuffed ourselves silly.
Now, the tired little guy is in bed while Gabe and I watch our traditional Christmas day film.

Baby Lily

We took Grandma Winnie to the zoo this morning.
We got to meet this wonderful "little" elephant!

Obviously, they don't let you use a flash when viewing her so the pictures didn't turn out great.  I did remember to bring the video camera, so maybe Gabe can get some video of her on this post later tonight.

Lots of animals were enjoying early Christmas gifts.  We saw the orangutans get their gifts.  And the polar bears were sure having fun with their gift covered in snow!

The female polar bear was so fun to watch.  Levi was pretty content pressed up to the glass watching her!

We're all set to finish getting ready for Santa.  A letter is being written and cookies will be baked tomorrow.   So much fun!

More Holiday Traditions!

Christmas vacation is here and we couldn't be more thrilled!

This week we read Christmas stories in front of the tree, sipped warm chocolate, watched holiday movies...

and went to Dairyville with friends.  We were hoping to be able to see Santa.  But when we got there at 4pm and took a number, it was number 34.  When we left at 5:30 (they are suppose to close at 6pm) they were still only at number 16.  Maybe we'll have time (and nice pictures) with Santa next year.

Being able to see friends was probably more fun anyway!  Plus, both Levi and Zachary are pretty happy just watching the trains!

9th Annual Christmas Cocktail Party

Our holiday celebration was a lot of fun!  As it always is.
It's really hard to believe we've had this party on the third Saturday of December for 9 years straight.  We feel like we need to do something really special next year since it will be number 10.  We're open to suggestions!
I think the highlight of the night was probably Gabe's desire to try on coats.  Not sure why.  (You'll see photographic evidence in the collage above.)

Sure was fun to get the holiday started with our friends.  Now we're really ready for Christmas to be here!

Girard Family Christmas

We had Christmas with my family early this year.  My parents leave for Nashville on Thursday night.
It was nice to see each other, and Levi sure was excited about getting to open his first presents!

(He's blurry in the picture because he would not hold still!  He was dancing around the living room...so much excitement.)

Levi also had a very special surprise for Mommy and Daddy.  They made ceramic self portraits in school.  Levi's turned out really neat.  It was a wonderful gift.

I can't wait for Christmas.  There is really nothing as wonderful as an excited kid on Christmas morning.  So glad we get to experience the magic of Christmas with this little guy.  It's just not the same with a bunch of grown ups!
Now all I have to do is get through 3 more days of work!

Gingerbread House

Someone was really excited about making his gingerbread house this week.  Although, I'm pretty sure he was the most excited about eating candy while making it.  That is why you make gingerbread houses right?

Gotta love that cheesy smile!

We also decorated our tree this week!

Levi was really great at putting decorations on the tree.  In exactly one location on the tree.  This is the best picture I got of the volume of decorations he put on that exact spot on the tree.

They were a bit too dense.  I did end up moving a few when he went to bed...

Celebration is in full swing.  We had early Christmas at my mom and dad's house on Friday evening and our cocktail party was last night.  I have lots of cleaning up to do before Levi comes home from Grandma and Grandpa's house.  (The clean up is the worst part about hosting a party!)  I'll be back with holiday celebration photos later.

Our Tree and Other Holiday Things...

Christmas traditions (and preparations) are in full swing around here!
The calendar is out and someone can't wait to find out what treat or fun holiday activity is in it each day.

So far we've gone to zoo lights with Grandma and Grandpa G.  We bought a gift for a kid who wouldn't otherwise get Christmas presents.  (Levi picked it out and was excited about dropping it off at the donation site.  But now all he says he wants for Christmas is that same gift he picked out to give away.)

Today we went out to the farm and got our Christmas tree.

Although, Levi was much more interested in the big holes the ground squirrels have dug than picking out a tree.
Look who we ran into at the Christmas tree farm!

Levi was pretty shy.
But I think he was happy to see him and he loved the candy cane Santa gave him.

The lights and star are on the tree, but the rest of the decorations will be put on later this week.
With lots of weekend activities, we ran out of time to decorate!

And maybe the most exciting event of the weekend....we got our big Christmas present.
We're looking forward to taking it out to Ft. Steven's after Christmas!