Yesterday we had the BEST time with our long time best friends the Dovers. We started the day by going to Drew's basketball game. It was so cute, and of course as always Drew was hilarious with his antics and looks he gave us while "on the court". (you have to know Drew to know how funny he is, and if you DO know him, you can only imagine how funny he was to watch yesterday!!)
Anyways, Robin and I decided that we were going to start a new Christmas tradition this year with the kids. Instead of the kids buying gifts for eachother, we let the kids each pick out a Christmas ornament for the other and yesterday after the game they painted and signed the ornaments and then gave them to eachother! It was soooo cute to see them working so diligently and carefully on their special gifts.
Above Drew is painting a reindeer ornament for Carter......yes the leg broke off a couple minutes after this picture, but that's what GLUE was made for!!! ha! (plus it just adds character and a memory!)
Here Ethan is painting the plane ornament for Carter. He took so much time on it. Precious!
Here is Carter's Santa for Ethan. I have to say that he was really trying hard, and he did a fabulous job!
Here is Ava's snowflake for Ethan. She painted it white, and then put glitter on it!
Okay the SECOND part of our new yearly tradition is to make gingerbread houses together. I think between four kids, frosting, and tons of candy, we MIGHT have made the biggest mess EVER!! BUT, it was tons of fun and it was my personal favorite part of the day.
Aaaawwwwww........
And TA DA! Here are the kiddos with their new ornaments. The kids had fallen asleep on the way home last night because it was late, but when we got home and tried to carry them to bed, they woke up and we couldn't get them BACK to bed until we hung the ornaments on the tree. So the new tradition was a complete success, and we had a fabulous day!! 
Hi Heidi
Wow your kids look to be having a fantastic time with their friends. Those ornaments are so much more special because they made them by themselves. They look fantastic. That gingerbread house is gorgeous. I was just wondering ....if this is a tradition you have started this year, can I invite myself to join in next year?!!!
We have a tradition where my brother in law (who we only see at Christmas because he lives in Australia) reads a book called Bill Frog to The Rescue to my daughter on Christmas Eve. It is an old book that used to belong to him and my husband and it is such a sweet Christmas Story. That is our favorite and special tradition.
Lindsay
Sounds fun!
Looks like you had so much fun!!!
We have a few traditions....
Christmas tea with Mrs. Claus...we started this tradition last year.
Adult dinner nite at Island Way Grill...great place on Clearwater Beach.
Annual Christmas dinner party at my house. This is something I have hosted for our best friends for the last ten years. We went from just a few couples ten years ago to a house full of people now. It is one of the greatest nights of the year....I will be sure to post pics!
That looks like fun!
Glad to see you back!
Gr8 tradition and it's great to see that your children are so well adjusted. What with you streaking around the house like you do, ROFL
What a great idea. My favorite picture is the one of each one holding up their ornament with such pride. Love it! Let us see the tree.
Judy
What a great idea! I love that the kids made each other ornaments. Those Gingerbread Houses look like they should be on the boxes. So adorable...ours NEVER look that cute!
love the ornaments and what an adorable gingerbread house! i keep saying each year i'm going to make one...maybe this will be the year.
It looks like your kids had a ball.
I made a reference to you in one of my recent posts. I've been missing you girl. Looking forward to your bloggy return.
Merry Christmas!
Great new tradition. Let's see we get our tree and my daughter gets a new ornament and a snow globe every year the day after Thanksgiving. Then we decorate it and Brinn puts out the snow globes.
This year we started a new tradition of Christmas Caroling with our church.
We watch all the classic Christmas dvd's the week before Christmas, and then spend Christmas eve just the three of us after church, before the family touring the next day.
Carol:) ps there is a picture of our little tree on my blog.
I love the idea of making ornaments for each other! Glad you guys had such an awesome day. Hugs and love! See you guys soon!
Ok, this is SAD... it's time to update your blog, it's been way too long!!! I'm just sayin'... :)
That is our favorite and special tradition
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