Santa Day!

 It's a HUGE, much anticipated event here in our home when Santa arrives! As the kids have gotten older our party has grown and changed. Everyone has a say in the guest list, pretty much anyone you can think of gets an invitation so that's easy! Kids willingly get dressed up and clean and the overall joy and excitement in our house all week is priceless. It is by far my most favorite week of the holiday season. There is not another time, maybe even all year, where we are home for a week, everyday, spending all day together.
This year I had more help than ever which was a good thing since Bill was recovering from a scary, nasty pneumonia bug! I came down in the morning to a preheated over (thank you Paige) and recipes waiting. Paige ran the mixer non stop all week making dough after dough. Lindy and Erin rolled, sprinkled, cut out, and iced hundreds of cookies.
I am always so grateful for my wonderful family and after the month of November even more so!

Merry Christmas!

The Millers

 My baby is not really a baby anymore but she wanted to be 1st on Santa's lap and that I can make happen!

 Erin and one of her BFF's Megan.

 Paige and Rachel

 Dance Girls - what a great team these girls are!

 What do you think Grace is trying to talk Santa into?

 Friends I haven't seen FOREVER! Can you believe Lindsey was our flower girl? Wow, we are old!

 Julia & Santa

 Bill "stole" Mary's new little one, Luke. He has a think for babies (obviously!)

 No matter what your age, everyone loves Santa!

We all wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hats, Mittens, & Food Oh My!

What a huge haul we had from donations at our Santa party! We hit an all time high! Over 100 food items, the Pickerington Food Pantry was very grateful. The final count was 68 mittens and gloves, 38 hats, and 3 scarves. By the end of the party the entry to our office was totally blocked. We literally had to jump over bags and boxes filled with goodies.
Paige and I delivered the mittens to City Hall for their mitten tree which will be distributed next week. The tree was pretty full, there was no way all of ours would even fit,  so we tried to make them look festive under the tree. What an awesome experience for all the kids. We are so appreciative of those who donate and make our collection a success. Our kids are so proud to take everything in. All of the kids work hard to clean the house, bake, and help get ready in general. It is truly a family effort, one that has become a beloved tradition for all of us. Taking the food and mittens in is really a great treat for them to see their work pay off.
Thanks so much to all who donated! We have helped to brighten someones Christmas a little bit.

Ho, Ho, Ho

Santa was here! What a wonderful day we all had with Santa. Friends from all areas of our life came to spend the afternoon with us and the jolly man. The kids were more excited than ever, they love to bake and get ready and I had more help than ever with baking this year. I spent many hours with all of them, up to our elbows in dough or in Ethan's case, peanut butter. We have never made so many buckeyes!

Many special treats this year! Our cousins came from Chicago, that was a big treat! Friends we had not seen in such a long time and BJ and Grandpa braved the crowd to come for the first time.
What was a great day turned into a wonderful evening. The after party was a very special evening with friends and family having pizza, wine, cookies, and great conversation. Couldn't have been a more perfect day!
Thank you Santa for stopping by! We love your visit! Have a wonderful Christmas, The Millers.

 Nancy's precious Janna was here for her first visit with Santa. She is a sweetheart!

Glad that the Girl Scouts were not too big to give me a picture with Santa. These were the only girls I could round up at the time but there were more running around!

The Dixon clan with one more on the way tomorrow!! Good luck Leigh!

If you don't go to Santa, Santa comes to you as BJ and Whitney found out!

Paige and Santa

The beautiful Hoser ladies - so glad you could join us, we had a great time with you!

 The dance girls!

 More dance girls showing their stuff to Santa!

 Paige and Grace

 Gloria and her "kids" Bill and Cyndi

 The only little one REALLY unhappy to see Santa was Lydia.

 Owen and Santa

 The Co-op crew!

 Santa and Julia. Julia ran right up to Santa and hopped on his lap. She is such a doll!

 We wish you a Merry Christmas!

 Mom and the Sisters!

The adorable Snider girls!

Merry Christmas love from both of us.

Santa Came to Town!

Welcome to our home at Christmas! Santa joined us on Saturday to welcome our family and friends with holiday cheer. I have more pictures than I could possibly ever share, well over 150 from the day but here are the highlights.

We all look forward to this day. Next to Christmas Eve and Christmas the kids love having all their friends over. As they have gotten older everyone pitches in more than ever to help get ready. Every year each child chooses a cookie to make with me, just the two of us. This year Erin was going through all my baking magazines and found a sugar cookie cut out of a Christmas tree that was decorated with glitter for the garland and sprinkles. She HAD to make it. To make it easy for her we used the sugar cookie mix she rolled her dough and cut out 32 trees. I promptly put them in the oven and burned everyone of them! Not one to get upset (thank goodness!) she redid the entire process and informed me she would stay in the kitchen to hear the beep for when they were done. They are all trained that mom's ears don't work well and all week long the oven is on and everyone yells from all over the house, "Mom timer!"

Back to Erin. When setting up for the party, she went to get her container of cookies in the dining room and carried them oh so proudly to the kitchen. She made it right to the edge of the table and accidentally dropped the whole bunch of cookies on the floor. Fortunately, they all landed on the lid of the container and only one broke! She was so incredibly proud of her creations.

Paige was in the kitchen non stop this year. Each batch was completed and Paige would say she wanted to bake more. She made fudge, homemade marshmallows, iced cookies, brownies, candy treats, and more. It was great to have her company. We also had a extra treat afternoon when Gretchen and Whitney came over to help. Aunt Whit helped to bake and Gretchen was on dishes duty. We had a blast!

I know that everyone who attends has a great time seeing Santa and Bill and I are so happy to host. But the afternoon of the party is only part of the joy for our family. Many of our memories and traditions are built into getting ready for the big day.

Santa and Paige

Lindy with her Grommy, Mimi, and Santa. What a neat picture to have!

Treats, treats, treats!

Santa's arrival!

The Speith's with their new little one and we had the pleasure of meeting proud grandparents too!

Alex is checking out Santa and liking him too! I always like to see what they do the next year!

Santa does not let anyone escape getting their picture taken with him. Even the older girls have to smile once for our family album.

Me and some of the Brownie Troop.

More Brownies, Mary and AnnMarie.

Alexa and Santa were deep in conversation. I can't remember what it was they were talking about but both were very interested.

Emma and Steven came prepared with their lists!

Max and Santa. Sorry we missed you Sandy!

This is for Leigh, we tried but Lola still wants nothing to do with Santa. Some kids don't change their opinions!


Santa could have taken Maddie home to the North Pole. She is too adorable! Maddie and Erin are great little friends and so cute together.

And Maddie's brother Landon was all I heard about at the party! Who is the little boy in the gray vest? He is the cutest! Yes, he is! He ran in the front door, straight up to Santa and announced, "Santa, I'm here!"

Maddie and Landon with their parents and new baby brother, Blake.

Owen and Santa

Lindy and Rachel. Rachel and Santa talked about Rachel's dad being in Afghanistan. She is ready for him to be home but that won't be for 9 months. They will really miss him for Christmas but I think Santa will take extra special care of Rachel this year.

So glad that Lydia could make it! She was sick a couple of weeks ago and in Children's with RSV. We are so glad she was better and could come see Santa, even if she wasn't too excited to see him!

Bill and Gloria with Santa

Santa and Lindy

Santa and Megan

Not sure what Santa is telling Cruex but he seems to be taking it pretty seriously.

The Christley girls looked so cute and we had to get a picture of all of them with the Miller girls.

Santa asked Ethan if he was a good boy this year, of course! He's a sweetheart!

Colin and Santa

Erin had to share her ukulele with Santa and tell him about trip to Hawaii. Santa has a soft spot for Erin.

Katie and Santa

Thank you Santa for a wonderful afternoon! You brought many smiles to many people.