Already....

The boys were playing with their remote control cars that santa brought them on christmas eve.  Just can't believe how quick christmas went this year......
This picture reminds me of all the fun that was had!

Frosty

I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon besides making a snowman.  The boys received a snowman kit this year from their grandma for christmas.  It added the extra little touch to our snowman.  It was fun explaining to the boys that you can’t make snowmen on just any day....you have to wait until the weather is just perfect to make the snow sticky.  There’s technique involved in making the perfect snowball. 

 

The boys named him Frosty of course!

Next on their list.....snow fort!!

The Christmas Pickle

So this year as I mentioned before we were making new family memories and traditions.  Let me introduce you to the Christmas pickle.  Our friends told us about it.  It’s a German tradition.  The pickle is hidden in the tree and it takes a long time to find....way longer then you would think.  There are two ways to play.  The person who finds the pickle can get to open the first present or get an extra present.  We played where they won an extra present.  It was great fun for everyone to search for the pickle....lot’s of laughs and something we will continue to do J

Superheroes

The boys are really into superheores this year.  Santa must have known that because he brought them tons of superhero stuff.  I don't really know much about superheroes (who would have known they all have special powers?).  The boys have never watched any superheroes on tv so they must be learning all this stuff from friends but they are crazy about them.

Meet Batman....and his trusty sidekick dog :)

 Our house is safe with the powers of batman and wolverine hahahaha

Outdoor Rink

There's not much to say about this post.....Jason's mom has an outdoor rink on the lake in front of her house.  It's always a great time.  The pictures say it all.  What a gorgeous day!

 

They were having so much fun!

One picture of me because everyone always comments I'm not in the pictures :)

 My boys!

Christmas Eve Magic

This year it was great to see all the Christmas magic alive in the eyes of the boys.  We spent all month reading Christmas stories.  There are not many things that are actually magic in the world so Jason and I have agreed to make Christmas as magical for them as possible.  On Christmas eve we have family over after Christmas mass.  When we got home this year we sent the boys downstairs to show my sister some presents under the tree and when they got down there......Santa was sleeping on the couch!  The boys went crazy.....Santa woke up and thanked them for waking him....he would have hated to miss bringing the presents to all the kids.  The boys were awestruck.  It was the cutest thing ever....and definitely something our family will never forget.  Santa gave them each two presents and told them he would be back later that night when they were sleeping.  He told them to go upstairs so he could go up the chimney.  Thanks Santa for making our Christmas a little more magical!

The Christmas Season was extra magical!

Wow I completely disappeared offline for awhile!  We did something different this year that I think we will do from now on.....we had the house completely decorated, and gifts all bought and wrapped by the beginning of December.  This left us the entire month to just enjoy the season.  We had more friends and family over than ever before and we got to participate in all Christmas get together's without feeling guilty about all the things we needed to get done at home.  At the beginning of December we sat down as a family and wrote our bucket list for this year’s winter season.  It was really fun to see what everyone in our family wanted to do this year and surprising too.  Mathew wanted to make cookies and deliver them to neighbours and Zachary wanted to get dressed up in a tie and go to church on Christmas Eve.  By writing down our list it gave us something to keep referring to over the holidays.

-          Gauthier Family Holiday List

-          Build a Santa’s workshop

-          Advent calendars

-          Watch three new Christmas movies

-          Make snow angels

-          Mail Christmas cards

-          Drink hot chocolate with marshmallows

-          Bake cookies

-          Let each of the boys look through the cookbook and pick any type of dessert they want  
           and bake it

-          Make gingerbread houses

-          Drive around listening to Christmas music looking at Christmas lights

-          Watch the parade of lights

-          Nightly Christmas books

-          Bring food to food bank

-          Buy someone a coffee

-          Write letters to Santa

-          Take picture with Santa

-          Kiss someone under the mistletoe

-          Make a snowman with hat and scarf

-          Family snowball fight

-          Make reindeer food

-          Deliver neighbours Christmas cookies

-          Make snowflakes out of paper

-          Make something to display our Christmas cards

-          Horse drawn sleigh ride

-          Donate clothes and food  to those less fortunate

-          Paint ornaments

-          Let the boys buy gifts for each other

-          Make cookies for friends and neighbours

-          Make something for everyone (Mathew writing)

-          Put cookies and milk out for Santa, carrot for Rudolph

-          Sing Christmas carols

-          Go to kids Christmas party

-          Go to church in our Christmas clothes

Now this list is a bit extensive but we actually accomplished most of it and the rest we have already made plans to do shortly.  This year it was all about us just enjoying our time together and creating great family memories.  We started some new family traditions that we will keep doing every year.