Christmas stuff and Christmas EVE!

I LOVE spending Christmas in MN. Nothing like having a white Christmas, awesome decorations, family laughter and wonderful traditions. This will be my first post of many about our Christmas adventure this year!

First I have to show-off my mom's awesome ability to decorate her house. She has so many cute and original ideas for a country Christmas and I have noticed how I love the choices she makes more and more. Here are some mittens she has collected over the years and she hangs them on their french doors.

This is a button/bell/ribbon/bead garland over the banister in the kitchen. For those of you who don't know, my mom is an avid button collector and has made out pretty well over the years!

Can't forget the reason for the season right? I got this ornament for Christmas and I asked Logan who it was and he said "Mary with her baby Jesus!" How perfect that he knows this just as well and hopefully better than Santa:-)
We spent Christmas Eve this year with Mike's family as we switch every year what family we are with on either day. The boys had a blast checking out their gifts all day as we waited till the evening to open them. They made out pretty good! Mike even got to see some of their enjoyment of the present openings. So blessed to have this computer technology. Austin really surprised me with how into it he got, ripping off the paper and saying "Look!" in a high pitched voice.

Here is Austin saying cheese for the camera, Grandpa opening the toy, and then our Christmas Eve dinner...little Hens! We each got one. I thought it was so cute and clever for the boys who devoured their meals...YEAH!
Here we are back at my parents house. If you look behind them you can see another awesome decoration my mom made. Snowflake and button garland. I love it! We are leaving Santa's cookies here and of course they get to eat one too. I had to watch Austin so he wouldn't steal one of Santa's cookies off the plates. It was so cute because the first thing Logan asked me in the morning was "Did Santa eat his cookies?". It is so fun for this age! Stay tuned for more Christmas pictures to come! Plus I was spoiled by my hubby who surprised me with a new lens...can't wait to show off those pics!!!