The Happy Hasselds: December 2018

Last month of 2018! Lots of Christmas traditions and fun this month - it's always a favorite! It was even better this year because I wasn't teaching full time, so there wasn't quite as much craziness in trying to do everything! The first thing is the Walk through Bethlehem that a local church puts on. We go just about every year. This year, the boys didn't want to go, so we girls headed out. It's always fun, especially when it's not too cold out!

In the waiting area singing Christmas carols.

They sang "Rudolph" accompanied by "The Cup Song" (which involves lots of clapping, hitting the table, and slapping cups).

The kids did the Salvation Army bell ringing for the fourth year in a row. It wasn't their highest total shift, but they sure do enjoy it. Everyone smiles at Bella's dancing.

Ryan spent his "break" time organizing carts for shoppers.

Gingerbread houses and "It's a Wonderful Life." Neither of these things ever get old!

We got Joshua "The Manor" this year. It was really big!

I took the Snoopy house.

Bella did this one. She got really upset because the frosting was so hard to work with. The "blob" on the right is actually a fountain, that looked pretty cool!

Ryan got the Reindeer Barn (and a little help from me).

This boy and his hair. Every morning it's some new weird hair statue. I love it and will miss it when he gets older and starts styling it.

Bella and I had the chance to go winter camping with American Heritage Girls. We drove a few hours north and had a great weekend! It was cold, but we stayed warm.

The campsite.

In line for the toboggan run.

Ready for our 1/4 mile! We made it up to 28 mph!

Sunset over the lake.

Lots more winter fun...

Bella's choir concert. She sounded amazing! ;o)

Ice skating!

And this nut skating in a long sleeve shirt because he was SWEATING with his coat on!

Pre-bed Sasha snuggles!

Ryan at the winter sing along. He NAILED the songs and dance moves!

And then we headed to MO. We hadn't been there for Christmas in a while and it was fun. And warm! No white Christmas, but I wasn't complaining (Bella was, however).

Fun hats at Warmart.

Bella and Papa hanging out.

Bella sporting one of the glitter mustaches Maga bought her.

Family selfie at Bass Pro Shops. Joshua is smiling! It's a Christmas miracle!!!

Colored fire. Always.

We have no idea where the tradition of "Naked Angel Baby" came from. It was just this creepy ornament we had on our tree growing up. (Why?!) It is now tradition to let the youngest/newest male to the family place it on the tree to officially start Christmas.

Papa tells Ryan about the tradition.

My nephew Brian put it on the year he was 10, Joshua got to put it on the year we got engaged, and Ryan got to sign the box this year.

Finding just the right spot...

And voila! Naked Angel Baby!

Fun hats, courtesy of Maga.

Target practice!

Christmas jammies! Never noticed how both kids have feet like penguins...

Christmas morning chocolate croissants!

The final haul.

Playing Uno Attack, a gift from Santa.

We were so excited to go to Silver Dollar City and see the 6.5 million lights (yes, that's right) they had up. We got there just after noon. Unfortunately, Bella got the stomach bug that Ryan had, and she got sick at the park. It cut our trip short (and made for a miserable night for our little gorl).