Christmas with J J L

Jarod, Jamie, and Lilli (aka J J L) chose to spend Christmas eve and morning with us. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I always love having my Christmas baby home with me on his birthday. I made this advent calendar while we lived in Texas - before any children. For the most part, turning over days is a first come, first served thing. Frequently when I was doing day care a day got turned over, turned back, and turned over again so everyone could have a turn. The girls usually turned over the angels and we tried to get the other kids to turn over their birthday number. But there are 3 days that are set in stone. The 23rd is Mary, me. The 24th is Joseph, Clark. The 25th, is the baby Jesus, Jarod. We always, always sang happy birthday to him, let him turn over his day, and then we could have Christmas. One year they were not going to be in Vernal for Christmas but were here for Thanksgiving. I got the calendar set up and he turned his day over first, just so I would know he had had his turn. Lilli is such a good cuddler. We love having this sweet family in our home. Right in the front of the picture, there is a treat -- chocolate mice. A Hershey's kiss is the face, a chocolate dipped cherry is the body and tail, and sliced almonds for the ears -- all set on 1/2 of an Oreo cookie. For as much as I hate the real thing, these mice were pretty sweet.