The Super Mega Post Christmas Post

We're back from the 5 day Christmas tour of Illinois.  Had a great time with family.  Here's a recap in pics.  Good thing we had a long mantel.  13 stockings takes up a lot of room.  **Edit - 15 stockings - forgot about the dogs! :)  Not sure what's going on in the middle stocking.  Looks like someone was trying to escape.

And in my stocking....a Happy Festivus card!

Aaron had to work hard to get down to the Wii game that was his present.  Peter pulled the old "box in a box in a box" trick.

And Rachel and Madelyn were content to be in the box.

After presents the big boys donned "box armor" and jousted.

The whole gang

Then there was entertainment of this variety - the remote control truck cam

Later in the day it was off to Dusty's parents house.  Rachel and Makenna got tinkerbell jammies to hang out in.

And Joel brought "Just Dance" for the Wii and then.....well you will just have to watch!

Merry Christmas!

Almost time

Santa is coming a little early to the Hackney 4.  So it's time to put out some food for the reindeer.  They will get a snack of oats, pretzels, and sprinkles.

And Santa....he gets a peppermint sugar cookie and dark chocolate brownie.  Wash it down with some chocolate milk.

Lights, Camera, &....Chocolate!

Tonight's Christmastime adventure was the yearly outing to scope out the light displays.  We started off with our favorite house in Brownsburg that is synchronized to music.

After winding around the Avon area looking at lights and dinner at McAllister's Deli we headed into downtown.  Scored a parking place a half block off of the circle....bonus!  Some scenes from the circle.

Then off to what is becoming a yearly tradition...hot chocolate at South Bend Chocolate Company.  Yummy!

Aaron gives his white hot chocolate the thumbs up and Dusty just wonders where his went so fast!

Yuletide Celebrating

Celebrations for Christmas week continued today with a trip to the symphony.  Today's trip was also celebrating Sarah's birthday, although it was back in November.  That's what happens when your birthday is around Thanksgiving.  You celebrate when you can.  After lunch at Creation Cafe we headed downtown to Monument Circle.  As I was driving around the circle I caught the scrolling news ticker out of the corner of my eye...."Early predictions - 3 to 6 inches of snow"  I think that was for Christmas.  Hopefully it won't be ice in Illinois.  The theater was all decked out.

I can guarantee that my tree at home is not this fancy!

Then while sipping coffee and taking in the sights we decided to get artsy with Sarah's suggested photo shot.  PEC would be so proud. :)

Then we decided to be a little silly. :)

The show was wonderful.  I love to hear an orchestra play live, and you can't beat the tap dancing Santas.  No photography allowed during the show.  But here's a funny story.  There are bins to place your program in after the show if you do not wish to keep it, and they will reuse them for other performances.  The ticket at the top of the photo is mine.  When I sat down an opened up my program the bottom ticket dropped out.  Notice anything?  They are for the exact same seat.  Coincidence?  A sign??  Who knows.   But I took my "lucky" program home with me. :)

And today was the last day of school until 2011!  The kids are thrilled....sleeping in tomorrow.

Christmas Week Kickoff

We kicked off the Christmas week with a great day today!   Aaron got to take to the hill yesterday with his friends for some wild sledding action.  Love this photo that Paul took of Aaron zipping down the "hill of death"

Rachel reprised her angel role this morning and the kids performed the nativity.

After church we had a family card making party.  We made cards to take to the shut-ins and to the nursing home.

Our family and the Bohrer family visited with Jean and Charles Dean at their new home.  Had a fun time visiting and sharing with them.

Not sure what's going on here, but this is what I caught Rachel doing this afternoon?!?!

Finished the day out with a Colts win and then some birthday cake at the Painters.  There's 4 birthdays in that family in December....that's a lot of cake!

Operation Christmas 2010

This morning we headed off to downtown Indy to make deliveries for Operation Christmas.  We've always been out of town on this weekend in the past, so I was glad for the opportunity to help deliver food and toys to families in Indianapolis.  We started at the Metropolitan Baptist Center and got our maps, food, and toys.  I gave Dusty the choice:  drive or navigate...he chose to navigate.

We saw some familiar faces in the line of cars that were waiting with us.  Behind us was the Schmidt Crew

And in front of us was this guy and his peeps

We made 6 deliveries.  Several to families with kids and several to seniors.  Glad we could help out and it was a good reminder to us and our kids that Christmas is about giving and sharing God's love.

Plus there were chocolate cookies and brownies when it was all said and done!

Happy Winter Solstice!

Tonight we headed out to the art museum for the Winter solstice celebration.  Even though the winter solstice is still a few days away, it feels like it's been here for several weeks!  We bundled up in layers, met up with the Painter Crew and headed out.  It wasn't a huge event, but it was something new and different and we had a lot of fun.  There were a couple of reindeer that had time for a "meet and greet" before they have to head out for work on Christmas eve.

There was a bunny that Rachel really enjoyed petting, and apparently Hayden and I found funny. 

Right next to the bunny was this guy.  I may be wrong, but I think he kept eyeing the rabbit and licking his lips!

We drew out and made our own constellations...

...and watched ice carvers in action

Then we took a quick tour of Lilly house all decked out for Christmas. (And by quick, I mean at the pace of 2 five-year olds who had no desire to stop and listen to the history of the place)  Can't say that I really blame them.

But with the snow and the luminaries lining the pathways the house was very pretty.

And Dusty - he was ready for dinner at this point!



Adventures in gift exchanges

Had a white elephant gift exchange today at mom's group.  Some people took "white elephant" to mean something they no longer used but someone might like....some people took it to mean gag gift.  That in itself made for some fun.  I started out by "stealing" this gift from someone.  A 2011 Chick-fil-a calendar - there's enough coupons in it to make it a nice gift.  

But sadly someone stole it away from me and I was left with the last gift on the table.  I opened it and there was some lotions and this...a ordinary black potholder....until you turn it over!

We all had a good laugh over this one.  I think I'll hold on to her for a while, but don't be surprised if she doesn't make an appearance at another gift exchange!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Time for the annual "Happy Birthday Jesus" party.  Time for another photo with my party crown.  I was looking back through the blog and I have a photo just like this one every year.

The kids acted out the nativity.  Rachel was part of the angel chorus and sang Away in the Manger with the kids.

The the angels decided to test out their wings and see how fast they could go! :)

What birthday party would be complete without singing and a candle to blow out.

Rachel picked out the cupcake with red frosting if you couldn't tell.