Christmas Eve/OUR Christmas Day!

When you are married to a fireman, you are required to adjust your schedule every now and then to work around firehall days. Sometimes the holidays fall just right and no adjustments need to be made... Christmas 2016 was not one of those years. Luckily I am used to it and we just roll with the flow!
So since Josh had to work on Christmas Day, we did our Christmas on Christmas Eve morning.
On Christmas Eve Eve, as soon as we got home from the Baldwin's, we got started on our Christmas eve traditions!
I read Twas the Night Before Christmas to the girls, they put on their Christmas pajamas, and we headed out to spread our magic reindeer hay!

I tried to skip the hay this year, but these two wouldn't hear of it!
Then we set out milk and cookies for Santa..

 And one last pose in front of the Christmas tree!

And then they were off to bed! They were both tired from the day, as were their parents! Pretty sure we all slept like babies!!
The next morning, my alarm went off bright and early! Graddy and Mrs. Kathy would be there at 7 to see the girls get up and open their presents! I love this tradition. We have done it since Brenna was a baby. Mom and Dad have always come to our house on Christmas morning to watch Brenna enjoy all of her new Santa prizes and toys from Mommy and Daddy. Last year Graddy was there without fail. And this year Kathy joined us! What a difference a couple of years makes. My heart was sad- missing Mom on her favorite holiday. I am sure there will always be something missing each Christmas morning for me. But my heart was so happy to have Kathy there with us to continue the tradition.
I snapped these pictures before we got the girls up.

As the kids get older...the toys get smaller...

Macie's stash!

Balloon animal kit and crystal making kit for both kids

Brenna's camera, speaker, and disco ball

Sleepy girls!

Her #1 gift!

This girl is all about her Peppa!

After they had gone through all of their Santa stuff, Josh and I told them that their big gift from us was on the back porch....

A new go cart!!! Happy girls!!! They weren't too sure what to think at first, but they loved it!! Macie was especially a little hesitant- but I think she has enjoyed it more than Brenna!
It didn't take long for them to get the hang of it!

And then it was time to give rides! Pops was first!

And if you aren't going fast enough up the hill...you need a little extra nudge from Daddy!

Smiles were plentiful!

Next we went inside to open presents.

This girl loves to draw

Of course Mrs. Kathy had to check out her new puzzles! They are puzzle buddies!

Peppa Pig...go figure! 

This was this year's "flop" gift. Night vision spy goggles. They didn't work. Then when I went to exchange them, they didn't have any more. ugh.

We saw this shirt in Disney, and I KNEW Dad had to have it!!! So I ordered it!

After presents, it was time for our traditional Billy Cakes breakfast! The girls jumped on the opportunity to do some go cart riding while Daddy cooked.

But before he cooked, he had to be taken for a ride!

The next sucker or victim I mean rider! was Graddy! And getting him in it was a sight to see!!

But he did it! And they were OFF!! Macie was his chauffeur. And as she pulled up and Graddy started to get out, she said "do you want to go again?" As he was saying yes, and getting positioned back in his seat- she HIT the gas and they were OFF! I laughed so hard I cried! 

He survived!!
But it was a little more touch and go for Memaw! You could hear her laughing and screaming all over the yard!

But I believe her face tells the true story of how she felt about the whole thing!
After the rides were over, we went inside and enjoyed our yummy breakfast!
I love our Christmas morning traditions, and that our family lives close enough to be involved!
After everyone left, the girls played with their new stuff, Josh took a nap, and I got the food going for our NEXT Christmas adventure that night....Jackson Family Christmas!

Adventures of Chris the Elf- 2016

Chris the Elf was back again this year! He always comes on December 1st, and once again- he didn't disappoint this year! I didn't get a picture of everything he did, or every place he sat. But I got a bunch! Some days he wasn't very creative. I guess some nights it just wears him out more to fly back and forth to the North Pole, so he isn't feeling as adventurous. 

On the morning of December first, we found this!

He left his book for us, as he always does! AND he brought the girls matching Christmas pajamas!

And he was handing out in Macie's stocking!

How does he do that???

He left the girls this sweet note! He usually leaves a note on his first night with us, but I guess he waited until the second night since he brought them a gift the first night.

OOPS! He appears to have dropped M&M's in my votive holder and gotten stuck while getting them out!

A sweet note of encouragement for Brenna on UIL day!

Do you wanna build a snowman???? Out of marshmallows and toothpicks? ha!

We woke up one morning to this! I had been wrapping presents the night before, and apparently Chris got inspired and did a little wrapping of his own!

 A wrapped Christmas book to read each night between then and Christmas! How fun!! (even if we did end up getting like 6 books behind by Christmas....oops!) But then he got a LITTLE too carried away with the remainder of the wrapping paper and wrapped the toilet, the remote, the phone, a picture or two, and some drink coasters! 

One night he toilet papered the Christmas tree and the living room! I sure wish he would show up and clean up some of these messes he makes!

"I came in like a wrecking ball"....apparently Chris is a Miley Cyrus fan.... 

You've all heard the story of Jesus, the 11 disciples and Chris the elf at the Last Supper, right??

I think Chris was dreaming of warmer weather.....

Flying to the North Pole each night can wear an elf out!! And when you can't find a miniature sleeping bag in the house, you must resort to using the footie of Macie's zebra jommies!

Goin on a safari

All the pets from Littlest Pet Shop needed to be taken for a walk!

Chris must be getting older, because he required a lot of rest this year. This time with Brenna's blankey!

Look out Santa! Chris is going to steal the sleigh!

On the morning of Christmas Eve Eve, we found this note. Since Josh had to work on Christmas day, Santa was scheduled to come to our house on Christmas eve eve. Chris must have heard the girls expressing their concern about whether Santa would remember or not- so he set this up to let them know that Santa didn't forget!

The girls had also been concerned that since Santa had to come a day early that it also meant that Chris had to leave a day early. Luckily Santa was nice enough to let Chris stay until his usual Christmas day. Since he was going to be in the neighborhood anyway- he swung back by on Christmas eve and let Chris catch a ride back to the North Pole.

Until next year Chris! You will be missed!

December Adventures- part 2

Wow- I'm tired all over again just looking back at how much we managed to cram into the month of December! Never a boring day at the Pool house!

We celebrated Landry's 11th birthday at the skating rink in Granbury!

The "kids of QSR". Carter still counts. He'll always be a QSR kid as far as we are concerned

I looked over and spotted these two sitting just alike. I love the bond they share!

The girls decorated their annual gingerbread house!This is Josh's department, not mine. Just like dying Easter eggs- that is his thing, and I am happy to be the picture taker!

They worked really hard, and worked TOGETHER! (for the most part without fighting). Miracles do still exhist)

I decided to take the girls to look at Christmas lights one night. And we snagged Maylee to go with us! We popped popcorn, I made myself a large coffee, Brenna a hot chocolate, and Macie and Maylee some milk, and we were on our way!!

We found a ton of lights to look at in town, and the girls had a blast! We ended our tour with a trip through the furniture store that always has a huge display. It didn't disappoint this year for sure! We ran up to grab a picture in Santa's sleigh even though it was freezing and no one had coats. Because...photo op! duh! (see previous post about my mom of the year trophy arriving soon..)

Abby spent a week with us while Kyson and Nina were in Germany with Kim. The girls loved having her here so much! And so did I. She fits right in around here!

She cuddled with Macie regularly, and slept with Brenna almost every night!
We go some of our new furniture moved in from Dad's house. Our new dining room table, the tanning bed, and the most anticipated...new furniture for Brenna's room! She got MeMawMom's furniture from when she was in high school. We didn't have her bedding ready, but we made do! She loves her full bed!

The girls and I made sugar cookies to decorate! I don't know who decided this was a good Christmas tradition. I mean seriously- who ever eats these cookies?? They taste gross, and by the time two little girls finish putting enough icing and sprinkles on them to cover a football field, they will cause you to develop diabetes just smelling them! But alas- I'm always up for an adventure (even if I do regret it 5 minutes in...). So I mixed up a batch of icing that I saw online that looked pretty and we proceeded to ice cookies!

They had a blast and were really into it....for about 5 minutes. It took me longer than that to make the icing! And after about 6 cookies were iced, they were done. Go figure. Hopefully I will remember this little adventure next year and we will skip the decorating all together. Let me also add that no one ate the cookies. The pretty icing was BLAH, and the cookies were just ok.... So- huge waste of time for the 5 minutes of fun they had. And THIS was what I was left to clean up!

*Note to self- when the desire to make and decorate Christmas cookies arises in the future... sit down and drink a glass of wine until the desire passes!

Christmas Eve EVE we went over to the Baldwin's for a get together. We had dinner and just enjoyed being together. The kids had a blast too. It was a great, low key evening!

Sweet BFF's!

Brenna and Landry had their make up done by Madison and Tori!

I almost got a 3rd degree burn sitting by this fire!!

My People!!
Thankfully Chuck's mom and sister were there and could take a group pict for us. This was the best we got out of about 40 pictures. Why you ask? Schaef Riley. No further explanation needed! 

Steve was a little less serious this time! He and Schaef made a good pair in the photo department that night!

It was a great time with great friends! Thanks Baldwin's for hosting! And thanks Riley's for driving all the way back to the old 'hood to join us!