Happy Birthday Jesus!

So I have mixed feelings about Santa Clause......Growing up I was a very realistic/literal child so I did not understand why all the santas looked different....and that Santa's helper thing did not go over real well with me. I asked my mom when I was three "if Santa and the Easter Bunny were not real than what about Jesus?". This was a pretty heavy question for a three year old (which I have held on to as a parent). I want my kids to enjoy the fun stuff but I don't want to go crazy on the commercial Christmas. Santa does visit our house and we talk about him to the boys......I just don't want to over hype. Nate knows we are celebrating Jesus' Birthday and I want the focus to remain on that!

Some little things have helped teach the kids about the REAL meaning of Christmas. One of them has been the fun kids Nativity sets Mimi gave the boys last year to play with. Last Christmas Nate called them "Nate's tivities".....I thought it was just adorable. We also started using an advent calender this year (that was filled with candy so the boys loved it) as a count down to Jesus' Birthday.

We had a wonderful Christmas day! We started the day off with the Santa gifts....It looked like Santa made a stop at the boot barn. Both of the boys got new hats, cowboy shirts, and gun holster belts. Benny was so excited. They both modeled their new shirts all Christmas. Nate also got buzz light year, a remote control toy story car, and some other toy story goodies. Benny got lots of Thomas trains (Santa ordered from china for a steal) and a fun bass pro outdoor set with a truck, trailer, horses, and a jet ski. After presents we made a big breakfast and took a walk to the park. It was a beautiful day and I was so thankful Mimi and Papa Dave we able to spend it with us in California!

My camera was still acting up so I did not get the kind of pictures I wanted to...but enjoy the ones that did come out.

having another fight with the companies that package these toys

nate trying on his stocking

I think benny was most excited about his cowboy stuff

off to the park

benny and papa dave hanging out