Holidays and new traditions

Cody was a lot of fun during the holidays this year. It was Carter's first Thanksgiving and Christmas. Cody asked to help cook during Thanksgiving so Mena let him stir the mandarine orange salad. He said our Thanksgiving blessing and we went around the table and said something we were Thankful for. He helped me decorate the Christmas tree and helped his dad with the outdoor decorations. None of us had ever made a Gingerbread house so this year we got a kit and decorated one. It was a lot of fun for all of us. We sang Christmas songs in the car daily and road around at night looking at lights. We read the Night before Christmas each night and the boys got several new Christmas books to add to our collection. One new addition was the book Elf on the Shelf. Cody named our elf Elmer and he watched our house to report back to Santa on who was naughty and who was nice. We took the boys to see Santa and Cody talked about what he would tell him on the drive over. But when we arrived and it was our turn he had a change of heart. He was not so sure he was ready to sit on his lap. So he told me to let Carter (his baby brother) go first because he needed to warm up. After a little while he was fine and the boys sat on Santa's lap. Cody told Santa what he wanted and asked him where Rudolph was.