Christmas and New Year's 2012

It was a great Christmas!

Sam is a little over 3 and this was the first year that he could really get into it.
So Andy and I got into it, too!

We did a little Elf on the Shelf action...on a Lego potty...with chocolate chip poop...

The elf, whose name is "Jingle" (original, I know), made his way all over the house.  Every morning, the first thing Sam would do was look for Jingle.  And then he'd LAAUUUGGHH!!!

We had fun with some seasonal decor.

I was absolutely sure that he would have fun with this for HOURS.
Five minutes later..."I'm done."  Really, I should just learn to stick with cars and dinos.  Cars and dinos are always where it's at for this kid!

Notice the snow in the background?  That was the first snow of the season, so that meant our traditional sugar cookies and hot cocoa.

And since we like to do fat kid things, I made the hot cocoa with heavy whipping cream and sweetened condensed milk.  And then we dipped the sugar cookies into the hot chocolate.  Fat. Kids.

We started another tradition of a special Christmas Eve present.

There were Christmas PJs to wear, Christmas books to read, a treat for Santa and food to sprinkle on the driveway for his reindeer.  When I took Sam out front to sprinkle the reindeer food, Andy went out on the back deck and jingled a bell.  Sam and I could hear it out front and Sam freaked out!  He was so excited to hear Santa's reindeer, that he ran inside screaming "Hurry!  Hurry!  Get into bed!  Hurry!  This is so AMAZING!!"

He did some poses for us in his new jammies...

He was so excited that he went to bed at 8 and didn't fall asleep until 10:30.  It didn't help that we would jingle the bell downstairs so that we could watch/listen to his reaction on the monitor.  :)

Christmas morning brought new dinos and new cars.  And this thing...

Andy's "vintage" nostalgic find on eBay.  It's an old school Hot Wheels City.  Andy had one when he was little and thought Sam would love it.  And he does!  But note to self: vintage does not always mean vintage.  Sometimes it just means old.  And dirty.  And I might have secretly wondered if my child would get MRSA.  But, to be fair, it is one of Sam's favorite things now.  Seriously though...check out how ghetto...

Propped up with some plastic cups.

Big brother helped sissy open her presents...

And then it was off to celebrate with family!  

Some noteworthy memories with a lack of pictures:
New Christmas morning breakfast tradition...Cinnamon Roll Casserole from Pinterest.  Amazing!!
Old Christmas tradition of gin fizzes at Grandma and Grandpa's
Non-traditional Christmas Tex-Mex dinner at Nana and PopPop's that I hope becomes a new tradition

AND...after calling it a night on New Year's Eve at around 9:30pm...

New Year's Day Naps!
Sam and Anna slept at the same time for 2 solid hours and so did I!!
That's the best way to ring in a new year :) 

Welcome 2013!  That nap will last me all year, so watch out!

And since there are so many pictures of Sambo on this post, I think it's only fair that I end it with the best part of our 2012:  This beautiful addition...

TeeHeeHee

This is how she reacts anytime her brother comes near her!  She. Loves. Him.