Christmas 2014

Santa's treats. Even thought Charlie claimed to not be a believer anymore, he sure put in a lot of effort to keep Santa nice and fed.

Christmas was a hoot this year in the Sieg home and we were very relieved. James had been doing an internship all the way leading up to Christmas eve and then he celebrated having a break by getting violently sick with the flu or food poisoning (thanks for nothing, Sirloin Stockade!) and was laid up for all of the pre-holiday cheer. This left me to do all of the cheering alone but thankfully everything that needed to be done, got done. By Christmas morning, James was feeling much better, and even though I totally lost my voice (let's face it, Santa overworks and underpays his helpers), we were all ready for the fun to start!

Santa ate the treats that the boy's gave him!

Stockings were filled. Even all of the animal's got stockings!

The boy's helped me whip up the little felt stockings just in the nick of time to leave out for the jolly old elf.

The tree was trimmed

Presents were left 

How is this picture of James the ONLY picture that documents me actually finishing the chaps I started making him 8 years before?!!! 

Charlie knows that I love fall leaves so he found me a huge one and wrapped it up for Christmas morning.

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

McCabe is really into Power Rangers but his favorite of all is the yellow power ranger. Apparently, even though the part of the yellow ranger is generally filled by a girl, every now and then a season will come along where it's a boy and Coobie won't ever forget it! However, getting a little boy a yellow power ranger outfit is a little harder than you might think. For some odd reason, the red and blue ranger is a bit more popular with little boy's than the yellow. In the end, I made him a little pajama/costume (also on Christmas eve) out of yellow t-shirts and Coobie was tickled pink!

I had some extra fabric from McCabe's costume leftover, so I made him a little stuffed Reepicheep to round off his (and my) Narnia obsession

We were so insistent to not be stuck indoors this winter that I made a couple balaclavas to help us stay warm. 

Who needs to keep their coats and balaclavas on when you have a yellow power ranger costume to show off?!!

After a leisurely morning of present opening, we headed out to Tuttle Creek for some hiking fun.

Mason and his dog

Charlie got another cowboy hat. He really liked it for a day or two before he gave up his cowboy status and moved on to only wanting to be a dolphin trainer/gymnast. Now it sits forlornly on the end of his bed...when it hasn't fallen off to be stepped on.

The Yellow Ranger has cheetah speed skills, can't you tell?

Charlie thought that this cold morning would be the perfect time to try out his new mosquito face mask/net. Amazingly, it kept him bite-free!

This Christmas, Mason was in explorer heaven, thanks to all sorts of his adventure presents. Right at the top of that fun list was this cool leather satchel that my mom found him!

After the hike, we found a spot where Charlie could try out his new be-be gun. It was a wee bit cold, but who cares?

I guess we were not the first people to think to shoot in that particular spot.

Coobie and his dad. I love to see them together! James does this thing where he pretends that he is going to throw McCabe but when he counts to three and lets go, Coobie holds on tight and destroys the whole plan. McCabe thinks it is a riot!

Aaaaannnndddd....shoot by the light of the moon!

After heading home and heating back up, James came up with one more fun activity to top off our big day! Stargazing! We loaded back up in the truck that he had filled with sleeping bags, headed back to Tuttle Creek park, and then let us all snuggle together while he drove slowly around the deserted campgrounds while we used a cool app to figure out constellations. We all thought it was pretty fun:

It was a great Christmas!