Christmas

Cant believe Christmas has come and gone! Here are just a few snap shots of our last few weeks :)

 This picture above makes me laugh! Santa sent packages in the mail for the kiddos. Just look at everyone's faces to grasp what they all were thinking and feeling ;)

Oh my Parks! He doesn't crack a smile for much ;)

 Decorating sugar cookies. Such a mess, soooo much fun!!

One of our Christmas traditions is a pizza movie night. We order pizza, eat it on the couch (this NEVER happens, that's why it's so special!) and watch a Veggie Tales "St. Nicholas". This might be one of my most favorite traditions. I LOVE how much joy it brings the kids to not only watch a movie, but watch a movie on the couch WHILE eating dinner!! Crazy!! :)

 In our Christmas Jammies! :)

Then our Christmas traveling started. We ventured 12 hours to Wisconsin the first part of the week to Mikes parents house. The cousins met us there and so it was some crazy fun! Learned 2 big life altering things. The first, Brody gets car sick :( Lots of puke many times in the van. The second, Parks Man is allergic to cats :( Within 10 minutes of being at his parents house his eyes were swollen! Poor guy! He survived great on Benadryl and Zyrtec.

And of course, LOTS of snuggles from Grandma :)

It was cold, cold, cold in Wisconsin. But, NO snow! What a bummer!

We then headed 4 hours down to Iowa. In Iowa, we stay at a great hotel and were curious if we could make staying in a hotel feel "Christmasy"? The answer is YES you can! Mike thought I was a crazy person while packing :) We had a tree, garland, paper garland, stockings, my favorite Christmas coffee mug and plate, hand soap, candles, lots of lights, some of Brody's artwork from school, and books. We truly felt and looked festive! :)

We brought all our Christmas Eve traditions to Iowa and it was a ton of fun!

 Santa even know exactly where we were ;) Right, this looks great!

We had a great Christmas! No, I don't want to travel every year for Christmas. Yes, I would still love to get away to the beach for Christmas. But this week away was super fun! We all needed a "break" from regular life and this trip did it :)