1st Visit with Santa Clause

This afternoon my parents, my sister, and I took the girls to go see Santa Clause at River Town Crossings mall. Thankfully the line to see Santa was really short. However, the line to pick up the pictures was another story. The girls did great at first but after a few minutes Alysha was ready to start screaming! Thanks Grandma, Papa and Aunt Sarah for helping us to see Santa Clause!!!

Waiting in line to see Santa.

Mom, who is this guy??

Skylar and Alysha with Grandma and Papa.

Only two more days till Christmas. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!

Van Dam Christmas Party

Celebrating with the Van Dams is always a good time. Skylar received a pink and purple tug boat and Alysha received a pink and purple SUV. The night was short for Scot and I because the girls were getting tired around 7:30.

Christmas Traditions

I can't believe in three days we will be celebrating the Birth of Jesus Christ. I look forward to celebrating Skylar and Alysha's first Christmas. I have been thinking a lot about Christmas traditions this month and what kind of tradition(s) I want to start for our family. I have been asking all my friends what kind of traditions they have started with their own family to get some ideas.

I was so excited when I came across the blog, The Bonjour Family, that talked about their family Christmas Traditions.

It got be thinking about what our traditions were growing up. There are four traditions that we had growing up that I will always remember.

1. Our Visit from Santa Clause at the Vegter Christmas Party - Growing up we always had the Vegter Christmas party at the Forest Grove Hall. The night would start with a big pot luck dinner. After dinner us kids would play for a little while and Santa would always show up with a big red bag filled with toys!!! Looking back this was so exciting for us kids..until we got to the age of 13 and were too cool to sit on Santa's lap.

We no longer have a Vegter Christmas party, but I do wish we would have kept the Santa Clause tradition going with our own extended family Christmas party.

2. Christmas Ornaments from Grandma Hoekstra - We could always count on receiving an Christmas ornament from my Grandma with our names engraved on them along with the year. To this day I still have those ornaments and it is fun to see all the different styles. Now that I am married, I no longer get ornaments from my Grandmother, however she did give Alysha and Skylar their first ornament.

3. Stockings from Grandma De Vree - My Grandma would hang our stockings right underneath our school picture. Our stockings were so filled with stuff that my Grandma would give us a brown shopping bag to use to unload our stockings!

Skylar and Alysha have stockings of their own this year. I hope when they get a little older they look forward to opening their stockings as much as I looked forward to opening my stocking from my grandmother.

4. Opening one gift early - Every year my siblings and I could not wait till Christmas day to open our gifts. So we would beg and beg our parents to let us open one gift early. Every year it worked and we were allowed to open one gift early. My sisters and I were terrible at waiting to find out what we got for Christmas. I remember one year my mom was gone and we searched high and low for our Christmas presents. We found our Cabbage Patch dolls in the laundry room that year. Another year we unwrapped our gifts and wrapped them back up.

I hope that whatever tradition(s) I come up with for our family my girls enjoy them and remember them when they are 32 years old.

Click here to read about other family Christmas Traditions.

Nyland Christmas Party

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with the Nylands. It was nice because the party started at 4:30 so the girls were still awake when we opened presents. It was fun to watch them open their presents and play with their new toys.

The boys enjoying their dinner.Skylar playing with her new puzzle from Great Grandma Nyland. Alysha opening up her Christmas present.
Tristan with Alysha. Tristan had so much fun playing with the girls. He will make a great babysitter.Skylar and Alysha with Papa and Grandma Van DamJayce and HeidiScot and I with Aunt Robin. Aunt Robin got the girls the cutest white coat, pink boots, pink cords and a white shirt with ballerina shoes.
The boys playing with their new toys.
Us with Great Grandma Nyland
Brad with Colton and BrysonBryson in his cute Christmas outfit.Brad and Holly

Christmas Brunch

A few years ago my mother-in-law, Jill, started a tradition of having a girls Christmas get together. Some years it has been in the evening with appetizers and wine and other years it has been in the morning with a yummy brunch.

This year we celebrated our girls get together in the morning. Mom made a great egg quiche, fresh muffins, yogurt parfaits, and blueberry french toast. I LOVE breakfast food so this was a huge treat.

Every year we are spoiled with gift bags or as we like to call them our adult stockings. This year each of us girls had a theme. Mine was reindeer, Holly's was a Christmas Tree, and Heidi's was a snowman.

Everything in my bag had a reindeer on it! It is amazing how much thought Mom puts into our bags. It is so much fun to open them up! Us girls like to surprise mom with a gift bag of her own. Even though our gift bag never has a theme I know Mom loves opening her adult stocking as well.
THANKS Mom for another GREAT Christmas get together!!!

Only 3 More weeks.....

Only 3 more weeks till what??? The kick off to Win at Losing 2011! Have you enjoyed your holiday parties so far? Have you forgotten about eating healthy and are you to busy to fit in exercise during the holidays?

If you are going to need some help shedding the holiday weight gain, Win at Losing 2011 is for you!

If your New Years Eve Resolution is to lose weight (again) and you really want to do it this time, Win at Losing 2011 is for you!

Win at Losing 2011 will start in three weeks on Wednesday, January 5. Check out the following blog for more details: winatlosing2010.blogspot.com

So far I have 5 people interested in being contestants, will you be number 6??

Fun Pics

Skylar, our little diva.
Skylar and Alysha having ice cream for the first time with Dad.Alysha wanting to play Operation with her cousin Eli.Aunt Sarah reading to the girls.