Christmas

Olivia woke all the kids up early on Christmas and they were ready to open presents. The girls had each gotten a Lego Friends set from Santa, Miles got a Furby and Damon got a microscope.

We opened up stockings first, where it's becoming a tradition for people to get Beanie Boos. Miles and Damon both got ones and Amber found this little guy in her stocking.

Olivia and Carmen got books and other little things, but their Christmas was mainly a ton of My Little Pony figures and DVDs and they couldn't have been more thrilled.

Miles was very happy to get, among other things, a fishing game, Yeti in My Spaghetti, and of course, his Imaginext Penguin Lair. As he said when he opened it, "It's just what I expected!".

Damon got a wide assortment of things, like Minecraft, and a camera to use in his school photography club.

My favorite of his gifts is a laser puzzle game, but his might have been this label maker. There are labels on everything now.

Amber said her gifts this year were the patio, kitchen, and wood floors, so she only got a few small things, but she does get to share my big present, a PS4 with the new Lego Marvel game.

Eventually all the presents were unwrapped and it was time to play.

Christmas Eve

We were a little late getting to gingerbread houses this year. So late, in fact, that the stores were sold out, so Amber decided we were going to make our own on Christmas Eve day. I was assigned to be lead architect and designed two houses and a tepee (Amber's request) out of cardboard. Olivia and Amber collaborated on a stable, while Damon made his own house.

We weren't sure how they'd turn out, but they were just as good as the store-bought kits and more fun to design!

All in all, they turned out really well and we're already coming up with design ideas for next year.

That evening, we did our traditional acting out of the Christmas story. Joseph and Mary went to be taxed. Shepherds admired the baby Jesus.

Wise men came to King Herod, and presented gifts to the Christ-child.

Another tradition I've tried to keep alive is the singing of Christmas songs. I bought some more caroling books, the kids are older, and for the first year it felt like it really worked.

We let the kids open one present from a sibling on Christmas Eve. They were very excited.

Finally we got the kids to bed, and Santa paid us a visit.

Rockets

A friend of ours who works for the Rockets owed us some tickets (Amber had done some sewing work for him), so we went on Saturday to see the Rockets play the Milwaukee Bucks.

I picked this game because I wanted to see up-and-coming star Giannis Antetokounmpo in person.

It was a good, close game, and the Rockets kept a narrow lead to win it.

When we left, it was pouring rain. We ran to the car, but my nice leather jacket got pretty wet. Had to happen sometime.

Winter Festival

Amber was doing schoolwork on Saturday, so I took the kids to the neighborhood Winter Festival. We got there right as it was starting, so we didn't have to wait long to ride the train.

They had a lot of different crafts, and the kids wanted to collect all of them.

Not to mention the prizes from the games. We had our hands full by the end.

We didn't wait in line for Santa, but we did meet one of his reindeer (the most famous of all).

They also had a petting zoo where I saw these adorable kids petting this adorable kid.

We saved the inflatable bounce house and slides for last, but by then the lines were long.

When they were all bounced out, we took our winnings and headed home.

Snow

For the first time since 2008/2009, we got snow! Just like before, we got an early-December cold front that left a small accumulation of snow. I saw it as I was getting ready for work, so I woke up the kids and had them come out.

They were thrilled for a few minutes, but they quickly got cold making snowballs with bare hands.

Luckily, the snow stuck around for a little while, and they had time to suit up and play before they went to school.

And of course, they had to make a snowman.

It was all melted by the time they got home from school, but we'll take what we can get.