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Merry Christmas!

This is a long and picture filled post, but well worth the read! It includes a prayer concern for us (this time) at the end :)

I wanted to start off by sharing the teacher's gifts for this year. I got a few drink carriers from Dairy Queen and decorated them with some festive papers.

For the actual teachers, I filled the drink carrier with a bottle of foot soak, a mini towel, an inflatable foot soaking tub, 2 pkgs of hot cocoa (Hershey's Goodnight Hugs and Goodnight Kisses (white chocolate)), a bundle of caramel chocolate pretzel rods, and a travel mug:

For the teacher's helpers, I filled them with recycled water bottles filled with homemade hot cocoa mix, chocolate chips (to add to the hot cocoa), and marshmallows, and a bundle of the caramel chocolate pretzel rods:

I thought this was a sweet picture of Mike and Brylie -- the sun was shining in the window just right for some backlight and I thought the mocha look was perfect for this :)

Peyton started his Christmas vacation off with the flu -- vomit and diarrehea all night Friday, all day Sat, and Sunday morning. In between his waves if icky, he decided he and Jazlyn needed to dress up as Santa and Mrs Claus........notice the tissue taped to his cheeks for a beard and the rubber gloves for his white gloves? Also in the get-up is a rather large teddy bear in his shirt :) hehe

Last week was, again, spent in the kitchen. A few of the things I made were Sparkling Holiday Jam, Apple Pie Jam, and Pear Honey:

Monday was another day in the kitchen. I was determined to have all of the food made for Christmas Day so I could just relax........I got some cinnamon rolls made ( for us and for the dispatchers and officers working Christmas morning):

I also made some sausage stuffed french bread and corn dip for snacking..............

..........until I started feeling icky. I wasn't sure if breakfast just wasn't settling or what so we went on with the day. We were on our way to church from my Grandma's when Jazlyn threw up in the van, so we just let the boys go. While they were gone it became evident that all 3 of us girls had Peyton's virus........UGH!!!!!

We went ahead and got things ready for Santa to come. Instead of cookies this year, we left him some of Jesus' birthday cake (chocolate with peanut butter frosting). Of course we had to leave him a bowl in case Santa likes milk ON his cake like the Fenner's do ;)

Peyton left him a note too. At his school Christmas party, Santa left a bell on their chairs (the ones that fell out of their pockets while they were on the Polar Express). So he wanted to write this note for him:

Dear Santa,
Thank you for the bell. I play with it a lot and ceep it in a speshl plase. It is fun having a bell off your slay. So hear is a little cack with milk just for you.
Love,
Peyton Fenner

PS - Write back soon
Merry Christmas

I thought that was so sweet! Of course we had to leave a paper and pen for Santa to write back with too :)

Peyton got up at 12:30 am Christmas morning, and despite many orders to get back to bed and go to sleep, stayed awake...........here's what he found Santa had left him:

We had to wait for Mike to check in at work and come back before they could open gifts. Here they are opening what was in their stockings (Cars and Disney Princess "cell phones" - you've seen them, they're in the checkout aisles at walmart):

They were thrilled simply with the SIZE of their packages, lol:

I won't bore you with all of the gift-opening pics, but I will share a few :)

And a few pics of them all playing with their new stuff!

See what happens when you get up so early? You fall asleep before NOON!!!

We did have a white Christmas. Mike said it was very slick. It's nice and sunny out today, but we're supposed to get a heck of a storm tomorrow! 6-10" with locally heavier amounts and LOTS of wind........lovely

I did manage to finish making everything I'd planned for dinner yesterday.

Gotta love Cook's Ham!

"Dinner Rolls" (I had to deviate from my regular roll recipe as I had overlooked an ingredient I was out of...........these paled in comparison):

Overnight potatoes (aka cheater's twice baked potatoes):

My version of the green bean casserole (can't stand that condensed soup version -- this one has a homemade sour cream and onion sauce with cheese and Ritz on top -- yummmmmmy!):

And Jesus' birthday cake (triple layer chocolate with chocolate frosting on the inside, peanut butter frosting on the outside):

Mike and Peyton ate their share, I had just tastes of it all, and the girls didn't eat at all :(

Both of the girls continue to be sick, Jazlyn hasn't been vomiting as much, but Brylie's got both, so we're heading to the doctor with her this afternoon because I'm really worried about her getting dehydrated. Thankfully I'm feeling much better (just tired and running out of stamina), but Mike just stopped by looking horribly pale, to let me know he's getting it now. Please pray for us all -- that we can get through this bug quickly and smoothly :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!