Christmas 2016

Christmas is our favorite time of the year! Something just seemed a bit off this year though.. I don't really know what it was but for some reason it just didn't "feel" like Christmas. The "Christmas Magic" was missing. We missed the Anderson party because of the snow, our elf on the shelf didn't come (because he's lost.. somewhere), we didn't get any lights put up on the outside of our house, and we didn't drive around to look at the lights like we usually do. We didn't make the Christmas countdown chains, and we didn't write our letters to Santa, and Avery refused to go talk to Santa when we saw him. We're lame. We did make gingerbread houses and gingerbread men, we did listen to lots of christmas music and watch lots of Christmas movies though. Most importantly, we spent a lot of time together which is always nice!

opening jimmies!

The traditional family photo!

It's impossible to get a good one.

Opening Presents!

We got a snow globe from Fred Barry Elfman (our missing elf), that said he hasn't been around much this year because Santa gave him a promotion to Head of Elf Operations in the North Pole so he's been super busy but he has been checking up on us from time to time.

We all had a pretty good day. Mackenzie got a polaroid camera, a bunch of clothes, a hedgehog, and some other girly things. Gavin got a new air soft gun, a hiking pack, a new pair of roller blades, a new watch, a drone, and binoculars. Avery got a puppy surprise, a chapstick truck, a case full of pokemon stuff, make-up, and some artsy stuff. Dallas got a new watch, and I got some jeans, a jacket, and some new boots.

Meet Pedro. He's so creepy!

disclaimer- There's always got to be something.. right? Mackenzie was SO excited about her camera. Until she tried to use it. It wouldn't even turn on!! We've been waiting to exchange it but everyone is sold out. So- we'll keep waiting.  Gavin loved the drone! He would fly it until the battery died, plug it in, set a timer for 70 minutes, wait for the timer, then fly it some more. He had it for 6 whole days before he went outside and flew it in the wind (which he had been warned not to do), a big gust of wind came, and carried it off. He saw the general area where it went down and we tried to find it but we didn't have any luck.  Poor guy was so upset. I told him we can replace it but that he'd have to pay for half but he's not sure if he wants to spend his own money on something that might not last very long- see how that works?? They have no problem spending my money but if they have to spend their own it's a different story haha.