Christmas at Stone Mountain Park

It wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to see the Christmas activities at Stone Mountain Park (thank you BearPa for your generous Christmas gift which bought each of the kids a year Mountain Membership - we are so appreciative and will enjoy it immensely!).

We started with the 4D viewing of Polar Express - always a favorite.

What naturally comes next of course is a ride on the Christmas train.

We decorated sugar cookies, watched the Snow Angel parade, saw the Kickin Christmas show, the Christmas Carol show (very funny!), and rode our bikes/scooters around.

Mommy was most impressed that everyone got the memo that we were having a fun family day and played along:).

Mikaela gets her ears pierced!

Mikaela has been begging for over a year now to get her ears pierced! Apparently she is the ONLY child left without earrings (according to her version).

Tommy and I started high with the age of 10 - and then backed down to 7.

As she is a very responsible child, we decided to surprise her with a certificate for getting her ears pierced and lunch at the American Girl Bistro for Christmas this year (she is 6 1/2 which is practically 7!).

She was so excited in the days between Christmas and Monday (the 29th). She shared that she was a "little nervous" as daddy and I made sure she understood that she was begging for shots in both her ears - not exactly a painless procedure!

When we arrived at Claires at North Point (where I had already called to make sure that they would do both at one time) - she labored over the decision of which earrings would become her starter set!

She chose rainbow daisies - what else would I expect?

There was one person in front of us - a young teenager getting her second set. We decided that Mikaela wouldn't watch, but I did as I filled out paperwork. Lucky for me, as I was able to assist the teenager and her mother when she promptly fainted after the procedure!

Some of you will be surprised that I went ahead with the ear piercing just after the wheelchair arrived to take the teenager away - but I had promised.....

Mikaela was so brave - as you can see in the video! I thought her Nana, Aunt Ashleigh and I were more likely to be found with tears than her!

She couldn't wait to get home to show her daddy - who was so proud of her!

Girls Day Out

Girls Day Out!

Nana, Aunt Ashleigh and I began our girls day out with Mikaela by doing what all our girls love to do - SHOP!

We shopped until we were famished - and then off to the American Girl Bistro for lunch. Aunt Ashleigh's first visit, my and Nana's second visit, and Mikaela had the most of all with it being her third visit!

We had a FABULOUS lunch - appetizer, entree and side dish for all! Even Rosi (our American girl doll in case you haven't met) had her own menu.

Mikaela shopped the American girl shop - pondering over what to purchase before finally deciding on a doll carrier bag (http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/EndecaForwardServlet?dest=%2Fagshop%2Fhtml%2FProductPage.jsf%2FitemId%2F142417&event=topRecordsReport&sku=F5043 - ours is pink of course!).

Happy Birthday Jesus!

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The Thrailkill tradition of baking a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake continued this year.

The kids each made a chocolate cake (for sin), and topped it with white icing (symbolizing our salvation).

I bravely let them mix (with the mixer!), pour their cake into pans and slide them into the oven (I helped with the oven part - we have insurance, but it is always a pain to use it!).

The kids decorated their cakes all by themselves!

We sang happy birthday to Jesus and celebrated with the best cake I've eaten all year.

I bravely began what I hope will be a new tradition this year as I cooked our first ever Christmas dinner.

I made a ham, dressing, mashed potatoes and green beans. Dressing...from scratch...yes you can be impressed with me!

Christmas Morning with the New Bike

After a yummy Christmas morning breakfast (Santa pancakes for everyone!), we headed outside to let Xander try out his new bike on something other than my kitchen floor!

Mikaela took her video camera and didn't miss a minute of filming:).

Christmas with Nana, Papa and Aunt Ashleigh

Aunt Ashleigh came bearing more dress up - Anniken Skywalker, Batman and Darth Vader - what more could Xander want? (or daddy - check out that scary look!)

Mikaela adored having her aunt here to make up - it really was a sweet sight!

Mikaela handed out her special gifts she bought in the holiday shop at school - a bracelet for Nana, gloves for PaPa,

a tape measure for daddy, Hulk water bottle and snack keeper for Xander, and the BIGGEST for Mommy - a hanging rack because "mommy can organize anything!"

Christmas Morning!

Christmas Morning at the Thrailkill house!
















I honestly don't know who loves Christmas morning more - Tommy and I, or the children!

Xander was up at 1 AM, 3 AM, and again before 6 - insisting that it must be Christmas! He was so excited that he honestly could not sleep.

Mikaela awoke about 6:45 and we all finally declared it "Merry Christmas" morning.

Santa had all but Xander's bike wrapped - and so Christmas unfolded slowly, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

The requested items had arrived just as Santa had promised to try to bring - Mikaela adore her new digital video camera and make up, while Xander was thrilled with his new bike and batcave ("Mommy - just what I wanted!").

Santa also enjoys bringing those few suprises - for Mikaela the cash register was a huge hit! She and her Aunt Ashleigh scanned and shopped for almost an hour. She also really enjoyed her text message machines - though we required our cool Aunt to teach us how to text and send the messages. Tommy and I are still behind the times!

Xander enjoyed the Star Wars action figures - with little Yoda being an instant favorite.

It wouldn't be a holiday (or just a Thursday for that matter) at the Thrailkill home without a little dress up action. Xander was instantly transformed into a Pirates of the Caribbean figure and Captain America, while Mikaela showed many forms of Hannah Montana!

Tommy and I loved the unwrapping, the excited exclamations and the pure magic of it all.

Makes you want to break out your Tiny Tim voice and yell "God Bless Us. Everyone."