Christmas-2013 style

This year our family celebrated Christmas early so that we could include Daddy in our festivities before he deploys.  While everyone else is loathing the Christmas section in all the department stores, we were relying on it to help us get into the Christmas spirit before we've even trick-or-treated.  Pandora was our constant companion in the car, Bing Crosby and friends crooning to us in old-fashion as leaves fell red and orange outside.  The weather has played right along our fantasies-with lows in the 30's lots of nights and highs in the mid-high 50's.  (That's Christmas weather right there for these Texas babies.)

We've decorated some around the cabin:

 We've done some Christmas projects and downed some hot cocoa:

We've watched Christmas movies on the hard drive every chance we've had:

And we counted down days until our big celebration:

Allan and I decided that the best course of action would be a big gift that actually tied into the real holiday and that it would be fun to take the kids to Disney World in December to help us all be distracted from the fact that he won't be with us.  We made a theme and worked hard in the last few weeks to build the magic.

After a lot of joyful "Only 6 (5, 4, etc) more days until Christmas!" last night was finally our Christmas Eve.  We watched Nightmare Before Christmas on ABCFamily, prayed thanks for a full day and the promise of a fabulous tomorrow and the kids went to bed so Mom & Dad could get ready for the big day.

This morning we woke up before the kids to get a start on coffee and cheer.  It got pretty cold last night, and the clouds were gorgeous against a sapphire sky, so it was pretty magical!

As usual, Corbin was up first.  He wanted the presents RIGHT.NOW. but we made him wait for his sisters.  Who he woke.

Once they were up, we had a lovely time opening gifts.  One thing we're very appreciative with the kids is that they are pretty easy to please and very caring/thoughtful.  They get excited about the little things and they say lots of 'Thank Yous.'  YAY for sweet kids!

 Traditionally, the kids each get an ornament for the year.  GraceAnne has her ninth flower fairy from Hallmark this year. 

She's getting too big

Legos are always a hit!

And after all the carefully chosen Mickey Mouse paper had flown, we were ready for the big reveal!

I had to bring back the link to the video, because I was told this video doesn't have sound.  Sorry about that!  I guess we figured out one thing 4g mobile hotspot is not good for!

So HERE IS THE LINK for the video of the scavenger hunt/Walt Disney World reveal.