Christmas Day 2016 with the Ottens

This Christmas with two 2-year olds in the house we couldn't put any gifts under the tree prior to Christmas Eve night. So the big elves helped Santa place the presents under the tree after the kids went to bed. 

Needless to say when they came down Christmas morning they were elated by the presents! 

Elijah and Eva were thrilled to get watches from Yaya. They have been wanting watches for a long time. Elijah had even been wearing David's watch after it broke for a good month ("But no one really asks me if it works," he responded.) He was pleased to be able to tell the time.

The first thing he did after securing his new watch on his wrist was to pass of the old, broken watch to Joseph who gleefully looked to his wrist and announced "Minute!"

We couldn't resist getting the kids matching track suits, which they donned right away. Peter and Joseph got books of Curious George, who is pretty much their hero. Or mentor. Curious George just gets these two year olds.

They also were pleased to get a work bench from Oma and Poppi with matching toy toolbelts. They walked through the house with little plastic screwdrivers "fixing" the doorknobs, announcing "Fick-it! (Fix it!)"

Eva got a play kitchen set and has been making us air cakes and pretend delicacies ever since.

I crocheted a super soft and chunky blanket for Mom. I loved watching her be cozy under it the rest of the morning. Thankfully, she had room in her suitcase!

The pile of paper and boxes! Almost as much fun as the presents.

Oma and Peter share a quiet storytime moment.

What awesome grandparents. Simultaneous epic nerf gun fight and story time.

Poppi giving Peter his first piano lesson.

Oma and Eva having a tea party with Eva's new tea set, with live music from Poppi.

Christmas Eve Piano

We have the tradition of opening a present every Christmas Eve. This year we opened our big present in the morning so we would have all day to play with it. 

The present was a piano keyboard! After opening up the presents the kids creative juices kicked in and they decided to make a canoe out of the box. 

Elijah and Eva did a great job helping Daddy and Poppi assemble the keyboard, stand, and chair. 

One of the highlights of this Christmas was having Poppi play piano! We sang carols, the girls were serenaded during a tea party, and we even had some basic lessons.  

Jamie is particularly excited about re-learning how to play the piano. 

Dollar Store Secret Santa Stocking Stuffer Stampede D6S and Frontier Cafe

A few years ago when having Christmas in LA with family we all went to the dollar store to pick out stocking stuffers as a fun activity. We decided that it was so fun we'd make it a family tradition so we had our first Dollar Store Secret Santa Stocking Stuffer Stampede (or D6S). We all drew names and spent an hour running around the dollar store dodging each other and looking for fun gifts each of us would like. We scored with items such as selfie sticks, puzzles, dolls, and other fun cheap presents. 

After the Dollar Store we took dad and mom to the Frontier Cafe, a true Route 66 eatery on Central Ave. We sat in the John Wayne room which was composed of dozens of pictures of the famous movie star. We were pleased that it turned out to be mom's favorite New Mexican restaurant we visited so far. 

We finished up the night with a Christmas movie. Peter was a bit scared in one of the scenes and looked to his big sister for some comfort. 

Post-Christmas Hike with Oma

The day after Christmas we decided to take a hike in the foothills to start working off some of our pent up energy from being inside for several days. Poppi wasn't feeling well so elected to stay home. Although it was cold it was sunny and beautiful.

Christmas party

We had so much fun at a family game night Christmas party with our friends. They had us compete by family, candy cane fishing (Joseph threw his fists into the air and cheered for each of us. He was so excited about this game and kept going back to it), putting together a snowman blindfolded, snowball fight with giant marshmallows (most of ours ended up with bite marks in them, haha!), and chopstick mini marshmallow pick up of which Eva proved to be a great talent! Elijah's favorite event was the "make your own Lego manger scene", and poured his heart and soul into that construction. It was a fun and creative night.

December life

My little sweetheart begged to be taught how to make my morning coffee. She slipped downstairs while I was getting the boys ready, and made this herself. Way heavy on the cream, but otherwise a cup of perfect love.

Charlie Brown Christmas and River of Lights

Charlie Brown Christmas 

And the River of Lights

Charlie Brown Christmas with cozy blankets, a fire, hot cocoa and spiced pecans...

Remember how Elijah laughed and laughed.

Remember the little boys roared at the dinosaur

The lights reflecting in the pond

Watching the model train carrying cars with luminaria

What a wonderful time!