A Festive Month

We have had a month of fun that kicked off with a trip to Big Cedar.  It's my 5th time of going there this year, and it never gets old.  We went to celebrate Andy's Dad's 70th birthday.  It was a surprise, and we pulled it off!  We arrived on Friday with us all waiting in the registration building until he came in.  He looked right at us all, and then walked over to get his cookie from Mrs. Claus with it not registering that it was us.  He finally walked over, and was overwhelmed at seeing us all there.  

That night we went to Dolly's Christmas Stampede.  It was perfect with our big group, and the kids all had a great time.  We went through the light tour on our way back to our cabin, and then all got together for a bit before bed.  Andy started a big fire in our cabin, and we snuggled in for the night.  

Saturday was Breakfast with Santa early that morning.  We then spent some time at Fun Mountain before making our way to the miniature golf course.  Atticus spotted Ty from Dude Perfect playing a couple holes from them with his family.  Our good friend Tab, did not hesitate to go over to see if he would take pictures with our kids.  Our kiddos were giddy.

That evening, we watched the tree lighting with the Cleaver Family, and then we went to dinner to celebrate Mike.  The dinner was perfect, and we all had a good time.  Afterwards, we went back to get our pj's on, and then Mike opened his gifts.  

We left after breakfast on Sunday.  The trip went by way too fast, but it did kick off the Christmas season with wonderful memories.  I love Big Cedar all year round, but there is something magical about going at Christmas time.

Andy and I were able to sneak out last Friday to check out a Christmas Pop-Up bar called Sippin Santa.  The drinks were cute, but we didn't think it beat Home Alone last year.  We then went out to dinner, and one of the guys Andy works with was there. He paid for our meal as he was leaving,  which was so nice of him.  

Atticus had a basketball tournament this past weekend.  His team got first place!  He was very excited about his trophy.

The kids got out of school on Tuesday of this week.  Finley's ballet class had a parent watch night, and they performed a shortened little Nutcracker for us.  Finley was the Nutcracker, and had a lot of fun with it.  The next morning, I surprised her with tickets to the Nutcracker.  She was so excited to finally get to go!  Briley, Finley, and I enjoyed the day at the ballet.  It has been a long time since Briley and I have gone.  Briley told me once that she did not really care for the ballet, she just went for the Nutcracker that we would buy, so we stopped going.  Now, I have a girl who loves dance, and enjoyed her first trip.  Briley also decided that it was kind of fun after all, but some songs go on for too long.;). 

We had Breakfast with Santa, we baked gifts for the neighbors, we have made our reindeer food, gifts are bought, Christmas cards are sent, we baked Santa's cookies, watched Christmas movies, decorated gingerbread houses, and now we are ready for Santa to come tonight.