More faves....

Isn't this so cute???
Playdough ice cream station. Kenzi had so much fun playin' with Peri and Camryn!
Danielle loves doing the girls' nails and they love having them done!
Peri's requested treat.....Pizookies!! YUM!! I think it is now tradition that we have pizookies at Aunt Teri and Uncle Scott's house.

Favorite Christmas pictures...

Kenzi was snuggled in on Uncle Mike's lap and didn't move the whole time we opened presents with my parents and Mike and Marie and their girls. It was so cute!The COUSIN picture!!!
Carson and Callahan got a drum set for Christmas. Yes, I said Carson and Callahan got the drum set.....

Christmas Day

Christmas morning the kids watch Frosty upstairs, while Scott and I get ready. NO ONE is allowed downstairs.

Gotta have the "kids on the stairs in their jammies picture" before they are allowed downstairs. Then we go downstairs and sit around the Christmas tree and read Luke 2. Then the opening begins....

Here are some of the favorite presents this year....
A camera for Kristie that has a screen on BOTH sides:) Perfect for her!
Hot chocolate mix from Callahan....yum!
The American Girl doll, Chrissa for Camryn.
New tires for Kyle's car....Bamboo, a drawing pad for the computer for Carson.....a camera for Callahan, and a tie out for Sadie (not quite her favorite present).

Santa letter

We all contribute ideas for the letter to Santa and leave it with milk, cookies, cheese, Diet Coke and cookie dough bites. Kenzi was so cute, SHE had to write a Santa letter too. Love that!

Christmas Eve traditions continued...

After the kids open their presents for each other, Scott and I open the presents they made for us in school. Callahan made us a Holiday Traditions book, including our yummy sticky bun recipe:)

Camryn made us a 2010 calendar with each one of our birthdays on it.
Carson made a picture for me. I wish you could see it better. He is becoming quite an artist.

Kyle gave Scott a gift card to his favorite restaurant and he gave me a beautiful necklace inscribed with this quote, "A family's love is nature's masterpiece." It has a tree on it with 8 gold hearts as leaves. Eight! That's our little Hinckley brood!

We read Twas the night before Christmas and the Santa Story which is a story Scott found about 18 years ago that ties the Santa and Baby Jesus story together. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite Christmas decorations is a ceramic Santa, kneeling beside the baby Jesus that my mom gave to each one of her kids.

Christmas Eve

My favorite day of the Christmas season is Christmas Eve. We always try to bring good cheer to someone. This year we visited Ardella, who used to work for us for Sound Opinions for a long time. It was so good to see her and talk with her for awhile. We miss her! Then we stopped by the Bilas' house. Mr. and Mrs. Bilas were Scott and my youth group leaders when we were teenagers. They will always have a special place in our hearts. We got to see and visit with Mrs. Bilas and that was a delight! It was so good to see her! We dropped a special gift off at our home teaching family's house and then went home for our steak dinner. After dinner is when our traditions begin. Each of the kids draws a name of another sibling and they buy a present for them. I love to see how much thought goes into buying the gifts and I love the expressions on their faces as they watch the person open the special gift they bought them.

Kenzi bought Kristie a pretty skirt and shirt...

Kyle bought Carson a subscription to Play Station magazine...
Camryn bought Callahan a Strongsville bag and snow hat...
Callahan bought Camryn zipper, flip flop and cupcake earrings...
Carson bought Kenzi a play toaster and mixer...
and Kristie bought Kyle subscription to INC. magazine...

Craftin' Kristie

These cups of colored water turn into these beautiful crystal ornaments. Kristie made them in Chemistry and then came home and made more with her brothers, sisters and neighbors! Each one turned out different and so pretty!Ashley came over with a gingerbread house for the girls to all make together. So cute!
I showed Kristie these cute little bags cut from a Stampin' Up! die for the Big Shot. She loved them and we made LOTS! Love that blanket stitch around the outside!

Merry Christmas!!

This is our Christmas picture for our Christmas cards. Love these kiddos!!

Concerts

Carson is in the 8th grade band and the Jazz Band playing baritone sax.

Callahan is in the 5th grade band and plays alto sax. He is also in the choir.
This is the week for Holiday Concerts at their schools:)

Lasagna making lessons

Go boys!!

STILL working on Christmas cards!

We had a folding party with all the kids and Scott helping to fold our Christmas letters. Thanks for all the help! Can't wait to get these things in the mail!!

Sewing

I can't believe it! I finally got around to sewing! Kristie had a pile of things to mend and she had these purses to finish and we finally did it! She learned to make these purses in Young Womens' out of placemats! So cute!

Christmas tree at Kyle's

This weekend we surprised Kyle and brought him a Christmas tree, ornaments and a few decorations to give his apartment a little Christmas spirit! The kids were so excited to surprise him!

We had a really nice night, complete with some hot chocolate:) Look at that big girl drinking hot (warm) chocolate all by herself!

Carson figured out how to set the timer on the camera, so we could take a family picture:)