Anticipation

We're getting VERY excited about Christmas coming...

Jingle Jake, our Elf on the Shelf, returned from the North Pole very serendipitously after a rare day of very naughty behavior from Cora.

Every night he goes back to the North Pole to report to Santa if kids have been naughty or nice, and when you wake up in the morning you have to find where he is hiding. Here is one of our favorite silly hiding spots. Jingle Jake is driving a My Little Pony remote control car through our Santa Village. Sadly, that garland snapped off a few days after this photo, sailing several houses through the air and decapitating several villagers. Christmas casualties.

We did our Christmas Light Grand Reveal tradition of enjoying our outside lights for the first time with hot cocoa.

 The weather has been unseasonably warm, so we took the girls to look at Christmas lights in our neighborhood one night. Annaliese LOVES Christmas lights.

The O Family tradition of St. Nicholas Day continues. St. Nick brought the girls little treats in their St. Nicholas shoe.

No pre-Christmas festivities would be complete without a visit to the Man in the Red Suit. Cora was so brave this year. She went right up to Santa and told him her name, how old she is, her baby sister's information and what they'd both like for Christmas. Cora wants Wonderland Ponies, and Liese wants a baby doll with a binkie.