I skipped all of December, but for good reason! We had lots of fun things planned and were on the go! This year William really got into Christmas and understood it in a very different way than last year. He was very into Santa, reindeer, baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Frosty the snowman, Buddy the Elf, presents and parties. He had a little manger scene that he played with this year and we had an Advent calendar countdown. It was a lot of fun to talk about Christmas with him and he was excited waiting for Santa.
Our Advent calendar
Manger scene
We kicked off the holiday season with friends in town. William LOVES playing with the Helies. They have so much fun together. We roasted marshmallows together, went down to Park Ave to see the holiday lights and we even got our Christmas tree with their help.
Thank you Law for the Christmas tree help!
Parker, Grace, William & Wes love each other!
After the Helies left, our first Elf from the North Pole arrived at the house and he's a great thing to have around! We named him Buddy and William looked for Buddy every morning. He got a real kick out of finding him and it was the first thing on his mind every morning. He couldn't believe where Buddy would end up - on the chandelier, on the Christmas tree, on top of a lamp. He'd laugh and say Buddy was so silly. Buddy was very useful with all those simple requests... "William, if you don't eat your breakfast then Buddy will tell Santa..." Chomp, chomp! William didn't want Buddy reporting any bad news.
Buddy on top of the Nutcracker
For the first time we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party with William. Grace stayed home. It was a parade and night event that I don't think she would have appreciated as much as William. William knows all the characters names and loves Frozen, so when the castle lit up like Elsa's castle in Frozen, he was very excited to say the least. It was really pretty! William laid on his stomach watching the parade from the sidelines with his cousin Max.
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
Winter Park had a couple fun Christmas events too. We went to the Christmas tree lighting then the parade the next morning. William as you can see was very excited to see Santa's sleigh by the tree. The kids did great the parade lasting an hour and a half. At that point Grace wanted to run into the streets and become a hazard, so we headed home. We missed Santa at the end, but they had fun while it lasted.
Winter Park tree lighting
Waiting on the parade and wanting balloons
Merry Christmas from Grace!
William and I painted a couple ornaments and made a plate for Santa's cookies. He painted a star ornament at school too.
Ornament painting
We visited Grandpa Tony and Daniel down in Naples. It was very festive down there and a very pretty beach. Matt and I had never been to Naples before. We had a fun couple dinners out and the sunset there is gorgeous.
Beach in Naples
Best we could do here.
William's class had a Christmas party and the craft for the party was cookie decorating. William went the simple route and got right down to business eating his cookie. Some of the other kids made mountains out of frosting and sprinkles. It was hysterical!
Couple squirts of frosting then time to eat!
Santa was a very important person this year. We got to see him a few times. First at Seaworld. The meeting went fine. Pretty anti climatic. William was shy and Grace was shy too. Then at Interlachen with their cousins. William needed some convincing and was shy again then Grace cried. I love those crying Santa photos!
Grace not sure of the big guy.
Not so happy here...
But then we waited till the very end of the season to see the best Santa of all! He really is amazing. My mom and I took them to the mall and thankfully Grandma Doreen volunteered to go early and wait for us so the kids didn't have to go crazy waiting as well. What a great help! We laughed so hard once William and Grace got up there. Grace did awesome and Santa's elves got her to smile. William immediately walked up to Santa and was talking to him before I even got up there. I don't know what he was telling Santa! I think he was asking about a scooter for Christmas, but I could see him just chatting away. William did everything the elves instructed him to do. It was the funniest thing... from wearing Santa's extra glasses to pretending to pray for a good report from Santa. Hysterical!! I have so many photos from that session. They really had a great time with this meeting.
So sweet!!!
William happy to see Santa!
The annual Secret Santa with breakfast club was right before Christmas Eve. As you can see it was a warm one! There are SO many kids now that we have to meet at a park. Last year I hosted at our house and I think that was the last year for that type of venue. Can you say destruction? Kidding! But they are getting bigger and need more room to run free.
Secret Santa 2014
Grace got a Minnie Mouse book and girly puzzles from Madison. Then William got a construction site kit from Clayton. They both loved their gifts!
Christmas Eve we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Orosz's house with the cousins. We left a little early to get to Mass. William was excited to see Baby Jesus. It was obviously tough being at church with both of them. William was good, but Grace has no interest in being restrained. I brought about 500 lbs. of snacks and we made it to Communion. A success in my mind!
"Can I open my presents now??"
Sonni, Frankie (her 1st Christmas), Helen, me and Grace
Grandma and Grandpa Orosz with the grand kiddies
Christmas Day was a blast. William came downstairs and was in awe. He was also shocked by the tray of cookies and carrots being gone. I made a video summary of the morning. See below!
We exchanged gifts with the rest of the Orosz family later that afternoon, and everyone made out like bandits. Lots of beautiful presents! We do Secret Santa and that is a lot of fun. The rest of Christmas Day was nice and relaxing. Lots of scootering!
An amazing Christmas and to put it in the words of William this year... "This was the BEST Christmas ever!"
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