We celebrated our second Christmas with Bryce and Benjamin this year with a few Christmas traditions! First off is our 2nd annual Christmas card displaying a picture of the boys...it's amazing how much they've grown since our 1st card when they weren't able to sit up on their own yet!
And, here was last year's card :)
This year, we almost decided not to put up a Christmas tree because we feared the boys would keep pulling on it. But, then, we came to our senses and about a week before Christmas, we decided to put up our smaller tree that's white and usually sits at the top of the stairs. We placed it in the only "safe" spot we could find in the corner of our living room with no ornaments to entice the boys!
Here are our two silly monkeys checking out the tree...
And, here they were last year :)
My mother-in-law gave us these adorable frame ornaments last year, and after putting up our white tree, I printed a picture of each of the boys from last Christmas to fill the frames. This is a tradition that my mother-in-law enjoyed doing with pictures of her kids every year, and I'm excited to start doing the same thing with our boys...
I thought it would be fun to also do one with a picture of the two of them together every year...
We also created these ormanents last year of the boys' hand print...
I had Evan hold their hands next to their ormanent so we can see how much they've grown in one year...
These five ornaments were the only ones we hung on the tree this year...high enough where the boys couldn't reach them! We decided, starting this year, we'll use the white tree to hang all the picture ornaments and our big green one will remain our main tree for all the other ornaments. It will be so fun to watch the white tree get covered with more and more pictures every year!
This year, we also hung new stockings monogrammed with each of our names...
Our good friend, Brach, sent the boys The Elf on the Shelf, and we're so excited to start this new tradition with our boys! Incase you don't know the story, here is the gist of it: The Elf will be sent by Santa every year on Thanksgiving Day to sit on our shelf to watch over the kids. And, each night, after the boys go to bed, the Elf will go back to Santa to report if the boys have been naughty or nice. Then, the Elf will return every morning before the boys wake up, and he'll sit in a different location. So, the boys will have to look for the Elf every morning to see where he'll be sitting that day. Santa has just one rule and that is the kids can not touch the Elf because it might take away his Christmas magic. The Elf will return every morning from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, and he'll go back to the North Pole on Christmas Day until he returns to our house the following year. The boys are supposed to name their Elf, but since they're too young this year, we decided to wait until next year to name him. :) What a fun tradition! Thank you, Brach!
Another tradition that my in-laws enjoy doing every year with their grandkids is making gingerbread houses. The boys were way too little last year, so this year they each got to decorate their very first gingerbread house! Here's Oma showing Bejamin how the process works...
Bryce much preferred to eat the decorations...specifically, the marshmallows!
Looks like he's saying, "This is good stuff, Oma!"
Benjamin enjoyed the Fruit Loops...so much so that he pushed away his gingerbread house so he can just eat!
Bryce quickly learned that if he brushed the marshmallow against the gingerbread house, he can scoop up some of the sugar to eat with the marshmallow!
He's thinking, "This is the best lunch I've ever had!"
With Opa's help, Benjamin finally catches on and starts sticking Fruit Loops on the roof of his house...
He clapped after seeing his creation...
I think Oma, Opa, Gabrielle and Grant had as much fun as the boys...
Bryce giggling during his sugar-high...
Benjamin started pulling off and eating the Fruit Loops that he had successfully stuck on his roof earlier...
With Gabrielle's help, Bryce also managed to stick a few decorations on his house...
Now that's one content sugar-coated face!
The decorating crew...
I think Bryce was very happy with his work...
The final products...