Christmas traditions and other fun things

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! We spread out family Christmas' into three days which was MUCH better than everything in one day. K has A LOT of new toys that I need to find a place for in her room, but for now everything is in our living room!

Throughout he month of December, we added some new Christmas traditions...
I wrapped 24 of K's books to open each night for the month of December. The first night she opened one and got excited and said, "I HAVE THIS BOOK!" I explained to her they are ALL her books that she already has, but its fun to pick one and not know what it is and then we can read it. It was a fun new tradition!

ELF ON THE SHELF! Great new tradition! We bought the elf on the shelf that includes a book that explains what to do with your elf. Each night, Buddy, (K named him) goes back to the North Pole to tell Santa that K was a good little girl and the next morning, he would appear in a new place in the house to keep an eye on her. I am going to miss having Buddy here...he helped K to eat her veggies and not throw fits...
I bought K her very own Christmas tree--back in July. I was so excited, I wanted to put it up then, but Bill made me wait. :) We took so many pictures with both of our families...I couldn't decide which to pick to put on here on my blog...so I just picked a couple. We had a great Christmas with everyone! I loooove breakfast. It's tradition for me to have a good breakfast for Christmas. We celebrated our family Christmas at home on Friday and I made these Rudolph pancakes. I switched the eye color after this pic so Kaitlyn can have the green eyes and I could have the brown...I had to get them right before we ate them. :)


Kaitlyn did just fine sitting on Santa's lap. We went to the new Outlet mall expecting it to be crowded with him being there, but there was NO line at all!!
Kaitlyn got "Jingle" the dog from me and Bill (along with other gifts--but this was probably her favorite!) Jingle comes with a book and movie. When you get to certain lines in the book, Jingle responds. Well, okay, he ONLY seems to respond to Bill when he reads the book. I read is over and over and Jingle doesn't seem to like my voice. But Jingle is still a pretty cool little pup.
Kaitlyn's a happy girl! Behind her is the Rapunzel vanity that Santa brought her. The mirror lights up when you lift up the comb and pretend makeup. She's our little princess!