Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours,

Merry Christmas!

"For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

May you have a blessed Christmas holiday!

♥, the Rae's

Christmas odds and ends...

I just can't believe that it's Christmas Eve!  There is such excitement around our house these days... So here are some little Christmas odds and ends that we have been happening around our home:

The additions to our Christmas kids book collection:

(Oh my gosh we LOVE reading together by our Christmas tree!  Pulling these books out this time of year is such a highlight for us!)

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A fun addition  to our holiday table setting: Chalk board place mats...

(Seriously, what ISN'T on Amazon!?!)

I can't wait to use these for leaving out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer!

(Ryder is totally into it this year and we are just running with it, but use the countdown as "How many days until Jesus' birthday."  It is just too cute!

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Snuggling up to classic movies like these have been such fun this year!

(I remember watching these on beta tapes, recorded off the TV with commercials and everything ...  One of these had an episode of Rainbow Bright and we always watched it. I love getting to share these sweet memories with my kiddos! Minus Rainbow Bright...)

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Christmas coffee cups:

My parents got these mugs in 1984, and I don't remember a holiday where we didn't use them.  I have been using them like crazy and loving that they are in my home and part of my families holiday traditions!

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Christmas jammies!

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Today we are excited to go to our church for our Christmas Eve service.  I am so excited!
www.rockharbor.org

It's a pretty wonderful life!♥

The cutest re-gifting EVER!

The other night Ryder and Eden took some boxes from our garage, some tape from my wrapping stash, put their favorite toys in the boxes and gave them to Kit for Christmas!

They kept saying "Merry Christmas, Daddy!"

Kit had the best enthusiasm and the kids felt so AMAZING giving their things to him:

Kit welled up when we talked about it later... 

To see the hearts of your kids and the preciousness that is there is such a sweet gift!

English Toffee is back!

One of our favorite holiday traditions is to make our Grandpa Pierce's recipe for English toffee.  We made it here, here,(I felt very pregnant with my baby girl!), and here.  Last year, due to the move, this was the tradition that we had to let go of in that really stressful season.  Man, are we glad that we brought it back, especially in the new house!

Ryder loves to help with ANYTHING in the kitchen, so you will always find him right by your side.

 Eden is content sitting with a bowl of pecans and a big glass of milk, watching the craziness happen:

This year, we made the toffee in two parts, the candy on friday night, and the chocolate and nuts the next morning.  After we made the toffee, we made cocoa and watched The Santa Clause.  

Nothing says good morning like melting pounds of chocolate first thing in the morning...

 Assembling our 7 batches into gift sacks:
(over 30 of them...)

Ryder had the BEST time handing them out to our neighbors!  I just love that this tradition happens each year...

binoculars...

With the last couple of small hunting trips that Ryder and Kit have taken, he has really been asking for "Binoculars like daddys, because I'm a hunting guy mama!"  So I threw these together the other morning after I finished a roll of paper towels:

 Of course his Sissy needed a pair too:

She was thrilled!

It's amazing how much fun a paper towel roll and yarn can create.

Ryder will be thrilled to know that his aunt will be helping to make his little binocular/hunting dreams come true!♥  

brown paper packages tied up with string... (And other holiday happenings at the Rae's)

I have been slowly tackling our christmas wrapping.  With the shopping pretty much done for awhile, I have been thankful to have time to spread out this part of the holiday prep.  My problem is, I have two little people that, try as they may, can not keep a secret, so I had to wrap things with them not around, or wait until after I knew they wouldn't see the recipient until it was time to give them the gift...

So here is what is happening in our neck of the woods:

Doing these:

While listening to this:

And eating leftovers of this:

(Apple crisp is such a favorite of mine, and I especially love it during the holidays!) 

And our view as we wind down our evenings:

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Yesterday was Ryder's last day of school before Christmas break.  I know, he is only in 3 days a week for 3 hours a day, but hey, Christmas vacation is special, no matter how old you are, right?

He hugged his teacher for so LONG, he just loves her so much and told me how much he is going to miss her for the next few weeks.

We love our Mrs. Stewart!♥

So we celebrated with Starbucks treats:

Strawberries and cream for my kids:

and a peppermint mocha for myself:

(It was just SO GOOD!)

His school bag was filled with so many cool Christmas art projects:

They had done a devotion using the candy cane and he was super excited about it:

Then Ryder gave me the ornament that he made at school.  I said we should wait for his dad, but he said, "No mom, we made them for our MOMS!" 

(He has been talking about this gift for WEEKS and it was so fun to see him so excited about giving it!)

His finger painted lights:

The ornament:

I pulled it out of the bag and he said, 

"For you mama!  Merry Christmas!!!"

He sounded so old!

(I welled up big time!)

Then we went to pick out a spot on our tree and Ryder said, "How about we hang it up HIGH so Sissy can't hurt it."  His sister has a reputation for tree RE-decorating...

We did our Advent calendar (Thanks Mia and Trader Joes!)

Each time we open one, he says, "How many days until Jesus' birthday?"

Eden is convinced that cake and a candle will be involved on Christmas day♥.

Things are moving right along here and we are getting more and more excited about the time that we will have off as a family for the holiday!