Magic of Christmas

No Christmas is complete without a visit from Santa! On Christmas Eve, he took a short break from his rounds to visit our Precht Christmas celebration. Being the youngest, Michaela was the first to sit on his lap, followed by Nicholas and Amber and Jamie and Bingley ...

Merriest Christmas

Today was the grand finale of our Christmas celebrations -- plus Jon's birthday. We had a wonderful time in Warrensburg with Mom and Dad; and Amber and Jon. Unfortunately, Daisy couldn't be with us due to an encounter with some chocolate-marshmallow candy this morning.

After opening all the presents and stockings ... and stuffing ourselves with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, asparagus, corn, salads and rolls, we played Nicholas' new game: Attack Uno. The first couple hands were deceptively short ... and the third hand lasted over an hour! In the end, the girls ruled as Michaela, Amber and Mom each won a game.

This is the way we make the fudge

Oh there's no place like ... Chip's Chocolate Factory ... for the holidays!

After Nicholas performed with the school choir at Crown Center last week, we hung around to eat dinner and do a little window shopping.

The gingerbread town display on the first floor was captivating ... but the activity inside the window at Chip's was a little more engaging (it included samples!).

Now THIS is the way to make fudge (and get a workout at the same time)!

Michaela's 'got the music'

... She just can't figure out where it's coming from!

After the music program tonight, we had a quick birthday celebration. Highlights included a High School Musical birthday card and a musical gift bag. She was pretty excited about the Heelys inside the bag, too.

She's crazy about the clothes Mama and Papa sent. The lavender velour warm-up suit matches her Heelys perfectly.

Her next big dilemma will be deciding which shirt to wear first -- the High School Musical T-shirt or the Hannah Montana shirt.

Oh Tannebaum!

We attended Michaela's second-grade music program tonight. It was a very cute play, "A Holiday Moosical." It was about a moose who dreamed of flying and leading Santa's sleigh. And, of course, miracles DO happen. :)

Michaela, a Christmas Tree, danced and sang a song about roots. It was quite a treat.

Brrrrrrrr

We're barely above the freezing mark, and freezing rain continues to fall in the KC area. It's not near as much fun for the kids or Bingley as it would be if it was, instead, snow.

On the bright side, we're enjoying the opportunity to hibernate in our jammies and sweats!

Flying Michaela

Michaela competed in her first gymnastics meet today with the Emerald City Gymnastics Team. It was the Lawrence Winter Cup in Lawrence, Kan. Grandma and Grandpa Jueschke were there to cheer her on, along with Nicholas, Mom and Dad. She performed on the uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and vault. Her best score (9.50) was on the vault. The Emerald City captured second place overall. Michaela placed eighth overall in her age group. Grandma presented Michaela with a bouquet of daisies and pink carnations for a job well done!

Pre-winter wonderland

Everyone knows that a child's two favorite things in December are: Christmas and SNOW!

Yesterday we received our most substantial snow of the season thus far. It was only 2-4", but it was enough to put a nice blanket across the yard.

Nicholas and Michaela are looking forward to sledding after school today. I took this photo of Michaela last January right after we came in the house from sledding. She immediately peeled of her snowsuit and was running around in her long johns. And her cheeks were bright pink. :)

Rudolph spotted in Shawnee

If you look in your rearview mirror and see "red," don't panic. It might just be Rudolph. :)

Christmas traditions

Last year Mike and the kids assembled a gingerbread house before Christmas. This year, we did it again when Mike's mom came over for dinner on the weekend following Thanksgiving. So, since we've done so two years in a row, I guess that's the start of a tradition.

Last weekend I began putting up our decorations around the house, but in the process I broke our normal tradition. Usually we start with the outdoor lights and progress to the indoor decorations after Michaela's birthday (12/13). This year, I started with the interior, and we're gradually putting things out in the yard. There's no real explanation -- except many of our lights don't work, and we haven't decided what we're going to replace them with. And, in the meantime, it's been too cold to spend much time putting anything else up.

With any luck, we'll buy and put up our tree this weekend.

I am not an elf!

Okay, so Halloween was five weeks ago. I just got around to getting a photo of Bingley in his costume tonight. If Bingley's head wasn't bigger than the costume's head, you could see clearly that he's a lizard.

And now that Halloween is officially over, we can hang Bingley's Christmas stocking over the fireplace.