wax on a fur coat?

wax on a fur coat?  I know that seems like a funny title for this time of the year, right?  but as I sat in church on Christmas Eve - that was the first thing that came to my mind as we lit the candles during the song Silent Night at church.  Growing up part of my life in the south, there was one time of year when the fur coats came out - Christmas Eve!  I can remember my mom saying to us at the midnight Christmas Eve candlelight service ... "be careful of the fur coats on the pew in front of you - Do not drip any candle wax on them!".  At our church here on Christmas Eve, there weren't any fur coats, but I carefully helped my fiercely independent Jillian hold her candle so that she would not get wax on her arm, dress, or carpet of the church.... although she tried to wave her candle around like she was at a Jimmy Hendrix concert  and did NOT want my assistance --- we managed to survive the service ... wax-free :)

 a few swim team boys came over for a party just before Christmas --- boys broke a team record in the 200 medley relay and we told them they could have a party.  they wanted honey buns, whip cream, and chocolate chips.  we added pizza, chips, and some treats to the mix too.  honey buns seem like a funny motivator for a record to me :)

 some tree-decorating egg nog

 decorating the tree --- the Saturday before Christmas... a little late this year!

everyone wanted to put the angel on the top of the tree - so we had to resort to drawing strays.  Helen also kept calling the angel a fairy.  She wanted to put the fairy on the top of the tree :)  daddy going over the rules for "drawing straws"

 guess who is the winner?

 we quickly realized that Jayden was too big to be lifted up to place the angel on the tree..... so

 Ross had to put him up on his shoulders :)

 making spritz cookies

 and of course --- tasting the cookies!

 Very behind in getting the presents wrapped this year  --- sent Ross and the kids out to get some eggs on Christmas Eve (in the afternoon) so I could wrap some presents... and finish baking some more cookies -- multi- tasking for sure!

 this year we got Helen and the boys a warm-up suit for their swim meets and quickly realized that the newest member of the swim team (Jilly) should have received a warm-up suit too!  will get that ordered in January for sure! 

 Christmas Eve family photo

 our newest Stingray sporting her team shirt

 my Care Bear lady saw this blanket fabric at Walmart and really wanted it - so I bought the panel and sewed on a binding the day before Christmas

 every athletes dream..... the STICK    -- see the smile on his face :)

 reading the Night Before Christmas Story

 getting some cookies ready for Santa

 writing Santa a note....

 Santa writes them back -- this year we have a lot of skepticism about Santa in our house --- I just hope this is not the last year for Santa --- lots of questions about Santa and the little kid inside of me hopes that they continue to Believe. 

 Christmas morning

my present from Jillian -- love that she wrote Mommy about 4 times at the top of the card --- my baby girl is growing up so fast!

swim, bike, run - spritz cookies