Taking her turn

It's the best day when it's finally your turn to get up there and see what's in that pocket. Anything can happen!

The Village

It's starting to get challenging to come up with an original concept for our annual gingerbread activity each year. 

I'm not sure we can ever top the sheer brilliance of the Gingerbread Forest idea. That was definitely one I will keep in mind for years to come when we are strapped for time. 

This time we went for our own houses and the aspiration to create a sort of Hufford Winter Village.

At first we went for simple structures.

Four walls and a roof.

Everybody working at their own pace. Decorating with their own style.

And then Mathew came along with his fancy church....complete with steeple.

Made some of us reconsider our designs.

OH.

It was on.

We decided to rebuild.

All the sudden we were taking out 2nd mortgages to add on media rooms.

Sprinkles were flying.

It was time to keep up with the Huffords.

We weren't afraid to think out of the box and dip into the Halloween supplies.

What started out a quiet little Christmas Village, morphed into and sweet Holiday gated community.

Although...it definitely could've used a manicured Christmas Forest in the background. That definitely would've bumped up our home values.

Curb appeal?

I think so!

Photos have been taken.

Let the licking and picking begin!

Musical FHE

The musical FHE!

We stepped up our game this year. It was apparent there was a great deal of practicing and preparation.

Mostly by the baby.  She really mastered the guitar-smack.

Anna had ZERO fits and she sang Jeen-doh Bells, to boot.

Laney did a "Wolf Dance"....accompanied by Dad's wolfy sounding guitar magic.

Megan performed Silent Night and did a mighty fine job...even without a single piano lesson!

Mathew did a medley of Hard Rock Blues and Jingle Bells. The trombone is a very festive instrument, if I do say so myself. So SHINY! It would look fantastic nestled in the tree.

Ethan gave us a lively rendition of "Trittico" played along with the SmartMusic accompaniment.

Dad SANG and played Angels We Have Heard on High....and threw in a set of duck lips for free.

Meg and I did an "Away in a Manger" duet to finish off the night.

Then for the finale, we adjourned to the kitchen for rice crispies!

Candlelight dinner

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite Advent traditions.

I think everyone would agree.

Although now that I'm looking at the photos....

Perhaps it has something to do with lighting....

the....

candles....

It's funny how something as simple as turning off the lights can completely transform a meal.

It turns it into something special.

a little quieter...

and infinitely more magical.

Laundromat

We had plans for today...but they were hijacked by a leaky washer and the magical pull of the laundromat.

In the home of my dreams, I have 6 washers and 12 dryers...all of which are coin operated (because it's fun to put the money in) but the coins just spontaneously appear.

Buhbam! Laundry done!

Never too old...but often too young

Santa did a meet 'n greet in the Nitz's basement this year. 

Ethan was embarrassed, but he is such a good-natured kid, he couldn't say no when it was his turn to sit on Santa's knee. 

It's possible Mathew still believes. He's been turning a blind eye to any and all evidence that may cause him to doubt.

I think Megan is hedging her bets. She is reading that list to anyone and everyone in a position to make Christmas morning presents appear.

Laney wore her favorite stretchy pants in honor of the occasion.

Anna wasn't having any of it. Santa doesn't look like he wants to give it a go, either.

And we had exactly two seconds to snap this picture before Everly dove off of this strange man's lap.

AWWW YEAHHH....It's advent time!

Shall we begin?

Yes we shall.

It is December and that means advent calendar time.

 My FAVORITE!!!

And because it's my party and I am the boss of the Hufford Universe (with my co-boss, Mark, of course)....we start with my FAVORITE of the FAVORITE....

The ornaments.

This post feels kinda deja vu-ee. Almost like I wrote this already.

Weird.

Anyway....we completed the preliminaries...dinner, cleaning up, vacuuming around the tree, other chores that struck our fancy.

And then we gathered for the distribution of ornaments.

Is there anything more attractive than a great dad with a sweet baby in his arms?

Mark helped hand out the fragile ones and corralled the baby. No small feat.

I'll bet good money that Anna doesn't have any pants on.

It's tradition!

There was alot of grabbing and jumping off of piano benches.

There was quite a bit of anxiety over each child getting to hang those personal ornaments...

But when all was said and done, even though I felt like this:

When I sat back and crossed my eyes,

It was beautiful.