Day 8... HOLLY

Hi Gracen,
Last night I found all of your wonderful Christmas movies!!! I watched movies all night and ate bunches of popcorn. My favorite movie of all is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, so I am so happy you have it. I watched it 4 times! I left you some new movies and I hope you like it. Maybe you can have a movie night of your own tonight with Mommy and Daddy? Enjoy the show! Don’t forget the popcorn!
Love,
Holly

Holly strikes again... hee hee

Day 6...

Good Morning Gracen,
Last night I noticed that your Christmas tree was missing some very special ornaments. CANDY CANES!!!! So, I put a few on your tree. I hope you don’t mind. I was missing my candy canes from the North Pole. I left you some supplies to make your own today with Mommy. Have fun and can you count how many candy canes there are on the tree?
Love,
Holly

Day 7...

Hi Gracen,
I was in your room last night after you went to bed and saw how many wonderful books you have to read. That is one thing at the North Pole we love to do. While we are making candy canes every day we love to listen to Mrs. Claus read us a book. Last night, I read books all night long to your baby dolls. Ella loved the Santa book, Camilla loved the one that made music, and Lila loved the book about Rudolph. I hope you love the books I left you. I love the pop up one!
Love,
Holly

Santa Baby...

All I can say is Gracen is completely OBSESSED with Santa this year. It is just magical! She talks about him all day long and even sings about him all day long. I bought this outfit about 2 years ago and forgot all about it until I was decorating this year. At first, I though I had waited too long and it wouldn't fit, but it did and I couldn't resist letting her "dress up" as Santa. Here is my perfect little Santa's helper!

Holly is busy getting us into the Christmas Spirit!

Day 1...
Good Morning Gracen,
I am so glad you found me! Last night I noticed that you didn’t have your Christmas tree up in you room. I know that you have been visiting Bibi and Papa, but it is time you put it up and all the ornaments that go with it. I found everything last night in the closet, so I hope today you will decorate it for me. Oh by the way, here are some new ornaments for you. Have fun and I can’t wait to see it!
Love,
Holly

Day 2...

Hello Gracen,
I am so happy to be here with you. Last night I realized that I forgot to bring you a candy cane yesterday! Oh my, how silly am I? Since I normally work in the candy cane kitchen at Santa’s workshop, I thought I would make you one using your Mommy’s kitchen. It turned out much bigger than they normally do. I guess because Mommy’s kitchen is so much bigger than the kitchen at the North Pole. Remember, my kitchen is elf sized! Anyway, glad to be here and enjoy the candy cane!
Love,
Holly

Day 3...

Hi Gracen,
I have a special gift for you today to help you count down the days until Christmas. I have your Mommy’s advent calendar from when she was a little girl. Bibi made it for her and she loved counting each day with a special sweet treat! Each day, you will take off only one candy cane to enjoy. Every time you take one off, it will get closer and closer to my favorite holiday, Christmas! Enjoy!!!
Love,
Holly

Day 4...

Hi Gracen,
Last night I used your Mommy’s sewing machine to make me a warm sleeping bag. I had great time sewing, but I had a little trouble with the machine. I hope I didn’t break it. Anyway, I love to have sleepovers. I thought since I now have a sleeping bag of my very own, I could spend the night with you! Would you like that? I know I would. We will have a great time.
Love,
Holly

Day 5...

Good morning Gracen,
I hope that I didn’t keep you up last night. I couldn’t sleep because I was missing home a little bit. I decided to make it look more like the North Pole in your room, so I added some decorations with snowflakes. I think it looks like a Winter Wonderland! Do you like it? Maybe later, Mommy can show you how to make a snowflake with paper? Ask her… I bet she would love it!
Love, Holly

We can't wait to see what she does next.....

Pink Pig 2008

This is Gracen's 4th annual Pink Pig Ride!

Papa and Gracen rode the pig this year and had a great time. For those of you who don't know this is an annual tradition that started back when my Dad was little. Then in the 70's, the tradition continued for me as he took me each year at Christmas. Things have really changed over the years. I remember riding on the rooftop of the downtown Rich's store while chickens (yes chickens) ran around under the Priscilla and Percival pig cars. After Gracen was born, we continued the tradition to make it 3 generations of enjoying the Pink Pig.

Annual "Cheese" picture

Ride 1 and Ride 2!

This is the car Dad and I rode on in the 70's. We rode both Priscilla and Percival. I don't know how he got in one of those cars!!!

Vintage pictures of when it was on the ROOF of the downtown Rich's store. There were also chickens walking around up there, but they are not in the picture.

See you next year!

Holly is here!!!!

HOLLY is finally here!!!!!

We have waited since September for the arrival of our Christmas Elf, Holly!

Now that Gracen is three, she is old enough to host an elf from Santa's very own Candy Cane Factory. Since all the candy canes have been made and shipped to children all over the world, the factory is closed and Holly is here on vacation. We can't wait to see what kind of mischief she gets into.

I hear that we have more elves in the neighborhood this Christmas, so it should be interesting!