HOLLY Jolly...

Every holiday season starts off with the hanging of ornaments (my Mom's tree is my favorite-must be due to sentimental childhood traditions)......and the writing of Christmas cards...
(this year was the latest I have sent them out by far!)

... and the stuffing of the candy into our advent house.It was somewhere at the snapping of this picture (above) that I realized just how fast the holiday season was zooming by. It made me so sad that so many of our days were packed with work and chores. The kids felt it too, always getting behind on taking their treat out for the day. (This year Aly chose a mint chocolate and Brandan went with the traditional Peanut Butter cup to stuff into each day.)
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We went a bit rustic with kraft paper wrapping and hand punched holly for name tags. Aly and I (she really did most of it!) stamped out each recipient's name right onto the paper and strung each with festive wired ribbon.

As the prep was wrapped up (so to speak), I adjusted my holiday spirit and got out my Santa and reindeer socks...

...for our Christmas celebration to end 2011 at school.
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I can't say we didn't enjoy ourselves in the days leading up to Christmas. I learned to make ponche (a hot Mexican holiday punch) that I had tasted years ago on my first trip to Mexico during the Christmas season. It really is a treat. Chato says it's better when you invite Don Pedro to join you. ;)

There are a gazillion recipes for Ponche Navideno here, but WE decided to concoct our own with guavas, piloncillo, sugar cane, pears, apples, oranges, and cinnamon sticks. Boiling it all together between 30 minutes to an hour makes for a nice warming punch.

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We also participated in my friend Michelle's annual cookie swap just like we did last year at this time. Only I was working down to the wire and needed a simple recipe so I could whip up 6 dozen cookies to share with 12 cookie munching people! I found this Strawberry Angel cookie over on Pinterest that seemed perfect! I changed it up with some Raspberry Jam instead and baked up a batch...

They were definitely big, fluffy cookies, but not quite as pink as the picture showed. Only, the next morning before packaging them up - they shrunk! I'm imagining that it had something to do with the texture of the angel food cake mix and no water?! Hmmm... Sorry guys, I will do better next year.

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In my downtime (yeah, right) I have been playing with all of my photo apps...

There are soooooo many and they are all soooooo cool. I am not sure just which one is my favorite. I'll have to do a post just on them so you can help me decide.

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So, when the EVE was upon us...

...we headed over to Mom and Dad's house to spend the night and await the ringing of sleigh bells. The kids have always opened up "christmas jammies" on this night. (It thwarts the begging of opening more daintily wrapped gifts before the morning!)

Aly got some new fuzzy fleece, while Brandan happily found some BRIGHT orange U of I jammies.

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We used Pam's shared royal icing recipe for our cutouts, but I forgot the sprinkles and tubes at home :(

We researched our choices of a holiday movie (while Aly continuously ran back and forth to track Santa's whereabouts). A Christmas Carol was the winner, only because we couldn't find our copy of the Polar Express!

The kids took HUGE marshmallows to the fireplace. They were so BIG and sweet, one was enough to eat!

Aly tracked Santa all the way to Indianapolis and then freaked out ushering everyone off to bed.

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We were yanked out of bed by 6am and the deep amber glow of Christmas lights lit the unwrapping of gifts...

Brandan and Aly both requested skates (which a day has not gone by yet that these blades have not been on their feet) and some good old-fashioned board games. My babies are definitely growing up...because the acquisition of clothing was a happy event.

They both received a "video" chair, too. Santa was so smart. Now they no longer have to steal chairs from the dining set to sit THISCLOSE while playing Wii games.

Chato got a few new sweaters and the new King book (appropriately themed with JFK), along with a sweet gift from Aly's Secret Santa Shoppe at school: a Golf tee CADDY - now, the funniest thing about this gift is that Aly thought she was buying him CANDY - not something to hang on his golf bag to hold his tees in!! It worked out to be pretty practical and nice, Aly!!

I, too, got the goods in slippers and sweaters and a new COFFEE MAKER.

With the arrival of my grant $$, I did purchase an iPad2 - and picked out the HP ENVY printer so that I can now print from ANYWHERE from the iPad or the iPhone. Me Happy.

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After breakfast and a lazy afternoon, we headed back home to prepare for celebration #2. I somehow convinced Aly to let me try this neat Pinterest/Youtube 'do on her. Needless to say...

...I'm in love with how easy and elegant it is!!

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By the second and third days after Christmas, the kids were still sharing and unwrappin g gifts, so they got a bit more creative in opening them...

All said and done, this holiday is by no means over.

We are still baking and cooking.

We are looking for dinners out with friends and sleepovers with cousins. I am planning on making up some tamales for the New Year. Lots to do, i guess. But the best part is there is NO SCHOOL in sight for a while! WOO HOO!