The Tradition of Christmas Pajamas

Every year when my kids were little they used to beg to open a present before Christmas. Every Christmas Eve I let them open one present - one that I picked out. Of course it was always pajamas - the ones I got to take their pictures in the next morning. So this year, I had a cute Christmas nightgown that I was going to let Rylan open on Christmas Eve.

She had told me that she sat next to a soldier on the plane who told her if she had been a good girl she would get all the presents she asked Santa Claus for but if she had been bad all she would get was clothes and underwear.... I was hoping she had forgotten that when she opened that present!

She was so excited that she got to open one of her Christmas Presents!

She gleefully ripped the paper!

You can see how excited she is until....

She realizes it is CLOTHES!

Her Mommy explained the tradition but she was not amused until she found an extra surprise inside - chocolate gelt.

Here she is in her nightgown and Santa hat.

Christmas Visit!

Liz, Ryan and Rylan came for Christmas. Unfortunately, they took Rylan with them when they left....

Here are just a few pics from their visit.

I took as many pictures of Rylan as she would let me. She got so tired of posing. Here's a pic of Rylan in a dress that Jeannie made for Caroline when she was little - about 22 years ago! She is just so adorable and sweet.

Enjoying a warm fire.

We made cookies a few days before Christmas. Savanah rolled and cut them out. Rylan and her Mommy decorated them. They were delicious. Rylan put a plate of cookies and milk on the fireplace for Santa (he found them!)

Liz not interested in having her picture taken.

One step closer to being done

The stair railings are finally done!! As with everything else, we changed our minds a couple of times on what materials we'd use for the stairs. I wanted iron but decided it was too "fancy" for our house. We liked rustic peeled cedar logs, but couldn't find anyone who could install them. We finally decided on milled cedar. The railing and balusters are cedar (and smell so good) and the trim in ponderosa pine and aspen. The landing has tongue & groove ponderosa pine.