Our Christmas season started after Thanksgiving. The kids wanted the Christmas lights to go up and the boys "helped".
The presents started arriving via Amazon. And then they went upstairs to Mommy and Daddy's bedroom to get wrapped. If Xiao Yu had any remnants of belief in Santa, the other kids took care of that.
The kids each got a chocolate advent calendar from Trader Joe's. We kept them on top of the fridge when not in use, and so here is Karina getting access to hers.
We inherited some Christmas decorations from Emily's mom. The kids really like the snow globe.
We also got a glockspiel that is bigger than the one we have.
They helped to decorate the living room and did a good job.
We found a free weekend to fetch a Christmas tree. Many of the local U-cut tree lots were low on trees this year. We opted to grab one from a parking lot vendor.
And the kids helped to decorate the tree.
They each have their own shoebox full of "their" ornaments. Xiao Yu asked why his shoebox was the smallest and Karina's answer was: "It's because you've been alive the shortest." She's our logical one.
From Emily's mom, we got an angel tree topper that topped the tree at their house. Karina got the honor of placing that. Elvin is lifting Karina up to do that, but can only barely lift her up. Maybe by next year we'll have to figure out another plan...
The kids also wanted to put up the tree topper we traditionally use--a silver star.
We visited the Grotto, which is a Catholic retreat site in Portland that gets decorated with lots of light every Christmas.
We went into their little cathedral to listen to some performances.
A choir was singing Christmas carols.
They also set up a petting zoo, with goats, a llama, and even a mini-cow.
We also watched a puppet show. It was about 30 min. long and the amazing thing is that there was only one person backstage manning two puppets at all times, as well as the background music and sound effects.
So the kids enjoyed seeing all the lights and it was nice that it wasn't raining!
And then it was time to decorate the gingerbread house. We got the kit from Costco.
The kids had fun but also squabbled a lot over who got to decorate what.
Elvin took quite a few days off. Since he was home the day before Christmas Eve, the took Karina and Xiao Yu fishing at a local lake.
That night, they wanted to sleep in the living room for some reason. They thought it was really fun.
The next night, Christmas Eve, before going to church for Christmas Eve service, the kids got to open one present of their choosing. Karina got a doll baby carrier that she wanted, and carried her stuffed cat, Meow, around the house.
At church, we sang songs. Also Eliana was invited to the stage to read from a passage in Luke.
The kids' favorite part was the candle lighting at the end.
Before going home, we drove around town to look at houses' Christmas lights.
On Christmas morning, the kids woke up early and found their stocking full of goodies!
And the present opening commenced!
The girls got tickets to the Broadway Frozen which is coming to Portland in March.
The boys got a huge hot wheels set.
Eliana had been asking for a rabbit as a pet, but we never told her yes or no. That is, until she opened a present with a stuffed rabbit inside. Look at the expression on her face!
Once the shock wore off, euphoria took over.
Xiao got a Spiderman costume. Looks like he is shooting webs into the ceiling.
The kids also gave presents to each other too. Eliana made homemade play-dough for Xiao Yu, which he enjoyed very much.
Later in the day, Emily's family came over for a late lunch/early dinner. Karina got a science kit from Grandpa. The boys got binoculars.
The girls helped make drop biscuits.
And here is all the food! There were cookies, mozzarella sticks, chicken wings, deviled eggs, ham, and much more. We ended up with tons of leftovers.
One present Eliana got was a tiny baking set, that you use to bake tiny things.
And here she is, with the tiny cookies that she made!
After everyone left, we quickly pulled the tree outside and packed our bags, because the next day, we left for a trip to Southern California!
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