This year I've also been big on finding new ways to keep all the holiday decorations from becoming clutter. My favorite so far is the Christmas card display idea that I found on Pinterest. I wrapped an existing mirror in the dining room with some pretty yarn and then have been hanging my cards from the strands. So far the cards this year have been few and far between. This allows us to actually enjoy the cards rather than just having them scattered around.
This picture also captures the arrival of our Christmas Elf who visits us from December 1st until he heads back up to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. He watches the kids and reports back to Santa if they have been naughty or nice. Every night he flies back to the North Pole and then returns to hide somewhere new in our house. I'll be doing a blog post about all the fun he's been up to later.
Another new event that we added this year was riding the Santa Train from North Bend to Snoqualmie to see Santa at the train depot. The train was amazing, the age of the cars really told the story of how well things used to be built. The kids loved riding the train and singing Christmas songs. This picture shows the amazing old train and the kids in awe of how big it is.
Ben on the train with Jesse the pet dog from his class at school. He got to visit us for a weekend and have lots of fun adventures with Ben that we wrote in a class book.
Kenzie and cousin Claire spent most of the train ride looking at the window telling us everything they saw.
Ben and Mommy snuggling to keep warm on the train. Makes me appreciate that we don't have to rely on train service in these old cars to travel. I cannot imagine taking a cross country trip with kids on an old train.
The three amigos with mixed emotions about their upcoming visit with Santa. I took a whole series of photos where the girls expressions don't change much but Ben's face gets funnier and funnier.
Sitting on Santa's lap! Kenzie told Santa what they wanted. Ben was very eager to get up onto Santa's lap and had to be restrained while the person before us went. Then he seemed to want some alone time, or at least to not have Santa touch his hands.
An attempt at a family photo - again mixed emotions but Matt and I are happy so we'll go with it!
After the train ride back to North Bend we grabbed some lunch and Grandma and Grandpa Z met up with us to head out to find our Christmas trees. We tried a new location out in Carnation this year and they had a great selection of trees. Once again our eyes were far larger than our family room and we had to do some creative trimming to get the tree in but as always it's our best tree ever!
Classic shot of Ben helping Matt cut down the tree.
Here's Grandma and Grandpa Z and their whistling parade after the tree was cut down. Every year Grandma Z brings whistles to the tree farm that get blown when the tree is cut down - the kids loved it!
Holidays are the best when filled with friends and family!
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