Christmas Eve at our house with Gram and Pa-Pa
Caleb's favorite gift from his sister (it's a backpack)
It wouldn't be Christmas without my Dad's Santa hat
The whole Mullauer Family Christmas day
Schaeffer family (Craig's sister)
Yes, these are my beautiful children
Craig getting the fire going
Jordan always wears her pj's all day long on Christmas day 
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!
For the last week we've been wanting to go to Cabela's and The Bass Pro Shop over by Chicago and we finally made it yesterday. All four of us went. It took us pretty much the whole day. None of us are hunters or fishermen but we all enjoy the outdoors and these are such cool places that anyone would like them. 
If you've never been to these stores, it's worth the drive. 
Craig got a new pair of boots for working on the snowmobile trails. 
Both stores have spectacular displays of real animals. This post would never end if I showed you all the pictures I took. Caleb said I was embarrassing him with all my picture taking and that I looked like some crazy tourist. In my younger years I may have been intimidated to walk around with my camera but now I just don't care. If I want a picture, I take it. Sorry Caleb. 
And they had the most awesome murals behind the displays. 
This was at the Bass Pro Shop. Craig said these machines were the first snowmobiles ever made. It was a sled that pulled you on a sleigh. Somehow I think Santa has a better sleigh than this one. 
Why does Craig have such a big smile on his face?
Because it snowed last night and today Craig and Caleb got to go for the first ride of the season.
We still need a lot more snow and trail conditions are pretty rough but it's a start.
Each year I purchase one of these clay personalized ornaments with all our names on it. This one is from 10 years ago. 
I am not into cat ornaments but this one is special. My brother gave this to me for Christmas back when we were in high school....some 25 years ago. In all reality I'm sure that my mother purchased it and put his name on the package but it doesn't matter. I still think of him every year when I hang it on the tree. 
And who has an Andy Griffith ornament on their tree? I do! Mom bought this for me because she knows I love the Andy Griffith show.
And likewise I'm sure not many people have a Santa Rooster on the tree either. My kitchen is decorated in chickens and roosters so it's only natural that I would have one on my tree too.
I would love to go out and spend a fortune on ornaments each year. I have to control myself but I do splurge on one or two of these Lenox ornaments. They are so beautiful. Each year my Lenox collection grows a little bigger.
This type is my favorite. I love nativity ornaments!! My goal is to someday have enough nativity ornaments to have an all nativity tree separate from my main tree. One of the nurses that I work with gave me this ornament last year. It had a tag on it that said it was made from the wood of an olive tree in Bethlehem. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not but I like to think it is true.
Homemade ornaments are the best. This is one that we made with the girl scouts one year.
These need no explanation. You know why I like these....
This doesn't even look like a Christmas ornament but it always goes on the tree. Jordan made this in first grade. It's a picture of her in her Halloween costume. 
Craig is in Orlando all week at a trade show for his job. He left Monday morning and will be back Sunday night. We miss him. But it's been a busy week for us which makes the time go fast. It's so different when one of us is missing. The very first morning that Craig was gone Jordan and I woke up late and Jordan was late for school. The first thing out of Jordan's mouth was "Dad's only been gone one day and already we are falling apart". Craig really does help to make things run smooth in the mornings.
Jordan, Zoe and I went to the ReinDog parade in St. Joe yesterday. It was so fun. There must have been several hundred dogs all dressed up for Christmas in the parade. This parade has been going on for years but we finally decided to go this year. We'll make sure we go again next year, it was that cute.
Zoe was a good girl. She posted about it on her blog yesterday. You can read all about it from her perspective by clicking here. 
The town is decorated with all these statues. We only got to a few of them. Sometime I'd like to walk around town and see all of them. 
And of course Santa was in the parade. I love this time of year!! I think I'm the biggest kid of them all. 
It may be a little early but they are already putting some of the classics on TV. Last night it was A Charlie Brown Christmas and tonight it was The Grinch That Stole Christmas. I watched them both. I can remember being a child and being soooooo excited when these shows would come on once a year. It was a real treat and a real part of Christmas for me as a kid. I wanted my kids to have that same experience/tradition as I had but it didn't work out that way. When my kids were little they received the whole set of classics kids Christmas shows on VHS. They watched those shows over and over many times. They watched them so much that it they never experienced that once a year thrill that I got when I was their age. I guess that is one of the down falls of growing up in the technology age.
I was done at work by noon today so I made myself a haircut appointment for on the way home. Problem was I was still an hour early so I decided to walk around this little antique mall to take up the time. I found a book section at the back of the store. Woo Hoo!! I love books. By the time I came across the books I only had about 15 minutes left before my appointment so I didn't get to dig around as long as I wanted. I will be going back soon. The books are even divided into subjects. I found a section on dogs (of course I purchased 2 from that section). They had books on photography, nature, cooking, gardening, history, religion....on and on. The books were all in excellent shape and the best part is that most of the books were only $1 to $3. Some of the books were antiques but most were just out of print books. My Mom loves books too....I'll be picking up some books for Xmas gifts. 
Getting our tree was an adventure this year. We decided to get our tree from somewhere we had never been before, and it's right here in Hartford. We've seen it for years but never really knew how extensive or nice that it was. It was so awesome!! The place is called "Tall Timbers".
They ask you what kind of tree you want and then they either drive you in a bus or take you on a hayride to a particular field so you can pick out your tree.
There were acres and acres of tree.
Where do we start?
This one looks good.
Our "Tree"
Shaking the snow off.
Cutting down our tree.
Loading our tree. They also had the cutest Christmas gift shop with a fireplace and all. It was an adorable place.
Setting our tree up at home.
Ta Da!!!!!
When Caleb was in Kindergarten someone from the newspaper came to the school and took his picture and asked him a question; "Who were the pilgrims?" I was quite proud of Caleb's answer when I saw it in the paper. He responded "They were those people that wore buckles on their hats". 
2nd runner up Mr. Hartford Scholarship
Caleb, Chaz (1st runner up) and Andrew (Mr, Hartford)
The girls that won
Group photo of all that placed
Caleb and Jordan
