Best. Christmas. Ever.

Who decided this guy should get all the credit, I would like to know? I prepared for months for Christmas and the best compliment I've gotten so far is, "Santa's elves sure did a good job".

I even had to lift my ban on baking long enough to make sugar cookies for Santa. We made an army of snowmen along with their much-less-time-consuming cousins, the sprinkle guys.
We had a fun time with a family in our ward making gingerbread houses. Thanks, Rutz family!
We got to deck the halls with our very own boughs of holly from the holly tree in our back yard!
And guess who showed up just as I was finishing Christmas Eve dinner?! Santa's Reindeer!

The kids woke us up at 6:15 (also 3:30 and 5:30). They were so excited to go out and see what Santa had left for them in his usual spot, the living room. They were surprised to see no presents by their stockings, just a note like this one:

They headed downstairs and found their new/old schoolroom. Matt's Mom and I hunted for months for these schooldesks. Most of them were found on Craigslist. All but one have flap tops for their schoool supplies. The kids love them!

I slaved for months making these felt playhouses. I got the idea from an old college roommate here and she got it from here. I had to make a few adjustments since I made Merr and Joel's to fit the built in bunkbeds in the basement. Mine are also quite a bit more simple since I made three. The mailboxes are functional, though, which they love!

Maybe a good chunk of the morning was spent playing the new wii games. (We put the wii away for about a month before Christmas, so the boys were dying to get it back out)
I made these darling dolls for Norah and her cousins, Clayre and Kate. I got the pattern here. I love them and think they're so cute. Unfortunately, Norah loves the plastic cheerleader doll Merrody got her better. She won't touch these little cuties!
Norah's big present was a sweet garage sale find--a wooden kitchen! She loves it (so does EVERYONE).

I also made Norah (and her new best friend, Clayre) dress-up clothes. These tutus are sparkly. Norah had pretty much the same experience every woman does while trying to learn to wear high heels. It put her in a bad mood.

And after a magical morning, we got in the car and headed over the meadow and through the woods to Grandmother Malone's house! It was a fantastic Christmas! We are so grateful for the many blessings in our lives! Hope you had a great Christmas too!