Everything Christmas

One blog post to show everything Christmas - from decorating to playing in the snow to cookies for Santa to the aftermath of presents.  First is our annual Star Wars tree and village - always a big hit for kids and adults!

 

Olivia and Ethan always enjoy the yearly Illini Country Club Breakfast with Santa - food, crafts, puppet show, Santa, and fun!

Decorating the "traditional" Christmas tree.

The gingerbread house - both kids did a great job this year spending a lot of time thinking about how to decorate the house and less time eating the decorations!

First snow of the season!  Springfield received about 6 inches of snow, and it was absolute perfect snow for snowballs and snowmen.  

The biggest "hill" in the neighborhood for the kids to sled down (dirt from a construction site) - and Ethan took in a pretty big face full of snow on this ride.

Kate, Olivia, and Grammy ready for our yearly Nutcracker tradition!

Ethan and Olivia rolling out and decorating sugar cookies.  Our cookie decorating goes from the traditional (a snowman) to the unique (such as a sheep, a bunny, a palm tree, or Ethan decorating a cookie with tortilla chips and a Milky Way).

Our "official" Christmas pictures.

Ethan was a wise man in the St. John's Lutheran Church's Christmas program.  

Olivia was an angel in the Christmas program with a small speaking role.

Leaving cookies, milk, and letters for Santa and a carrot and banana for Rudolph!  

Christmas morning - the kids posing with their presents.

And the aftermath of opening presents.  Nope, our kids are not spoiled at all.

Playing with favorite toys - Zoomer and Furby Boom.

 

The day after Christmas gave us more Christmas!  Here is Ethan entertaining his cousin Lula with Grandpa Brett's trombone. 



A tradition for the Stamps' family Christmas - lunch at Dewey's to watch the pizzas being made.

Nope, not spoiled at all.

Toys absolutely everywhere and of course the boxes are the main attraction!

And to keep Christmas going a bit longer, we attended the Missouri Botanical Garden's Garden Glow.  It was beautiful to see and the kids really enjoyed all of the lights and events.

Olivia in A Very Hoogland Christmas

Olivia is participating in the local Hoogland Kids theater class this year - and is loving the acting/singing skills she is gaining.  This theater class has two public performances - in A Very Hoogland Christmas (held the weekend before Christmas) and Shrek (in March).  A Very Hoogland Christmas had 3 performances - which was quite an eye opener for Olivia having to do the same thing multiple times (and remain upbeat and excited each time!).  We had so much fun watching Olivia on stage, and cannot wait for her next stage show!

 

Olivia on the Hoogland publicity poster.

The opening act of A Very Hoogland Christmas.  This was a 90 minute performance, and the Hoogland Kids participated in about half of the show.  Olivia is on the far right side of the middle row.

Olivia was one of the Hoogland Kids selected to be on the stage (versus staying on the risers) during the final song - she was SO excited about this honor!

Ethan presented Olivia with flowers after her final performance.

The proud parents with the actress!

A Quick Chicago Vacation

Our family plus my mom and dad had a quick Chicago vacation after Thanksgiving.  It was great to see the city decorated for the holidays!  Here are the kids outside of the Chicago Art Institute where the lions have been wreathed for Christmas.

 

Life imitating art.

Olivia in front of my favorite painting - the main reason we visited the Art Institute.

 



Olivia loves Jackson Pollack.

The Bean always makes for fun pictures!

Can you find us in the Bean?

We walked around at night to see the holiday windows.  I  have no idea what Ethan is doing, but you can clearly see that Olivia has had a long day!

The next day we visited the Museum of Science and Industry - an instant hit with the kids!  Plus, being able to see the 50 Christmas trees from around the world was a great bonus.

We must have watched the baby chicks hatching for 20 minutes.

MSI had a great Disney exhibit that we walked through.  Very interesting information on how Disney became the business that they are today.

We had a fun dinner at the Rainforest Café.

Last on our list was to see Elf the Musical.  Ethan even had to wear his shirt that listed the elf food pyramid - candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup!