Until Next Year...

In Santa's letter that he left for Olive on Christmas morning, he let us know that Jovie would get to stay for Christmas day and that Olive could give her a hug before going to bed that night.  The cardinal sin for the elf on the shelf is touching it, but we knew she was going to be so sad to see her go, that we made an exception.  Olive was so careful and sweet with her, it really was so precious. 

 She hugged her and hugged her and thanked her for coming to our house.

 When she was finished saying goodbye, she carefully put her back so she could fly away to the north pole.

She has asked about her everyday since and today with a worried look on her face, she said "I sure hope Jovie is doing okay."  I love how much she loves Jovie!  It is like she is another member of our family.  I am curious if other kids are this attached to their elves or if Olive has some sort of weird elf fascination caused by having a Christmas crazed mother? Either way, the bond they have is pretty special!

Christmas Day Snow Fun!

Stephen had told Olive several weeks ago that he still had his snow sled from when he was a little boy, so when she saw it snowing, she asked him where it was.  After an hour or so of digging through the attic, he found it!  We bundled up and headed outside! 

 

 She thought the sled was so cool!

 We are blessed with such great neighbors!  The Greens headed out to join us and the girls were so excited to sled together!

Whee!!

 Then they took turns pulling each other on Cora's sled which was super awesome and light weight!

 Then they attempted to have a snowball fight, but the snow was so fine, it didn't go very well.  It didn't stop them from trying though!

Here are a few videos from our snow adventure!  The giggles in these videos are my favorite!  

Then the Daddy's decided that the girls weren't the only ones who got to have a little fun!

And because boys will be boys (no matter their age), this happened... 

This is how little miss wanted to warm up from playing in the snow! 

Thanks Greens for the fun times and laughs!

Christmas Morning

This was the first year that Olive had made an actual Santa list.  When we worked on it, it made me so teary because I realized how big she is getting! She drew Santa an octopus and asked him for 3 specific things: a Foofa "pet", a dollhouse like Cora's and a big doll like in the magazine. 

Christmas morning she woke up to see if Santa had brought what she asked for and he did!  She was so excited! 

 We found a letter that Santa left her and it explained that he had granted Jovie special permission to stay for Christmas day to see her open presents!  And it even included a surprise...before Olive went to bed that night, she was going to be able to hug Jovie and she wouldn't lose her magic.  She may have been more excited about this than her presents!

 She wanted to open stockings first and she wanted to help Daddy open his first!  
When Stephen was a little boy, he would sit in his rocking chair after kindergarten and listen to Pete's Dragon on his record player.  Earlier in the Christmas season, I had found the movie and decided it would be a great stocking gift for him.  Olive and I had gone to pick it up a few days before Christmas.  She was in the car with Stephen the next day and says "Daddy, Mommy and I got you your very favorite movie from when you were a little boy!  It has the lady named Nora in it!"  Then she proceeded to tell him that we went to the tractor store and got his special boots...guess we will need to talk about how to keep a secret before next year!

 She even wanted to help Wrigley open her stocking!

 Then it was time to open presents!

 Suddenly, we noticed snowflakes starting to fall outside!  She was thrilled!  Every few minutes she would run to the window to peak out!

 She played and played for the rest of the day!  I found her dollhouse family all sleeping in the same room.  The Daddy is using the bath tub as a bed and the little boy is in the closet. This made us laugh!  Who knows what psychology could say about that! :)

We had such a wonderful Christmas celebrating with our most precious gift! I can't even imagine all of the ways Christmas will be different and even more special next year with another little one.  I hope your Christmas was blessed and very merry!

Christmas Eve at Pop's

We ended our day of celebrating with Christmas Eve dinner and presents at Pop's house.  We haven't celebrated Christmas with Stephen's brother and Dad at the same time in 5 years, so it was long overdue!  Chris and Shawn prepared a yummy meal and we pigged out before getting down to business.  When we got the presents all out, and they said "these are all for you, Olive!" I don't think she believed them.  She wasn't sure what to do! 

"Those are all for me?"

 She seemed overwhelmed, but after a little convincing, jumped right in! A princess dress up set! Wowza!

 Uncle Chris helped her change into one of her new outfits to continue opening.

 Getting the party started!

 Daisy the Horse!  This pink beauty will be living at Pop's stables. 

 She has fallen in love with the books "Every Cow Girl Needs A Horse" and "Every Cow Girl Needs Dancing Boots" and she had just told Pop this week that all cowgirls need a horse, so he granted her wish!

 She also got an amazing new art easel and the Guncles in true spoil style, got her a "big phone like Uncle Shawn's"  aka. an ipad. She fell in love with their's this summer and they decided she needed one too.   

 After all of the presents were open, she decided to do a little "mooting" on her scooter.  She hopped right on and took off!  We didn't even know that she knew what a scooter was!  She says "Me and Cora are going to be awesome goers!" as she flew down the hall!

 After a few laps around the house, it was time for Pop and the Guncles to open their gifts that Olive hand created for them. 

 Pop, Uncle Shawn, Uncle Chris and Daddy

 

The Princess and the boys

This is one lucky (and spoiled) little princess! 

Christmas Eve at Honey's

We usually celebrate Christmas with my family on Christmas day, but because of the weather forecast, we decided to celebrate on Christmas eve afternoon and then attend the candlelight service at Honey's church.  It actually worked out great and may be our "new way".  My parents got this tall tree a few years ago and I think it is so pretty!  Stocking side note: My Granny made Dad's stocking when he was a little boy and made my Mom one to match when they got married.  Several years ago, Dad's started to struggle a little, so they had it framed in the shadow box that is next to the tree.  I love it.  Granny also made Mica and I's stockings and on Olive's first Christmas, she had a special Granny stocking too!  I was really a little sad that the new baby wouldn't have a Granny stocking, but guess what!  When Mom was pulling out all of her Christmas, she found an extra that Granny had made!  All we have to do is add the name!  I cried, I was so excited! 

 Opening presents this year with Olive was so much fun!  As Mica was passing them out, she would exclaim "this one is for me toooo?" everytime Mica would add one to her stack!  She loved watching her stack grow!  At my Mom's we go in order from youngest to oldest to open presents one at a time and Olive was so patient waiting her turn.  There aren't very many of us, so it wasn't like she had to wait a super long time, but in years past this has been really hard.  Another sign of how much she is growing and changing. 

 She got some really fun presents and couldn't wait to start playing!

 She really enjoyed helping everyone else open their presents too!  At one point, she says "Isaac, I can help you open that, I like to help my friends."

 When they were all open, she couldn't get her hands on her Doc McStuffins kit fast enough to start giving check ups!  "Mica, I'm going to check your eyes, check your ears, find out how much you grow..."

 Christmas tea party time!

 After playing for awhile, we got ready to head to church.  Getting this little lady to smile AT the camera for a picture is such a fiasco, but we did manage a few cute pictures in front of the tree.  

Honey and Olive

 The last Link family Christmas tree picture with only 3 in the picture!

Somehow we missed one with Mica and Isaac in front of the tree, so here they are at church. 

We were off to celebrate at Pop's house next! Merry Christmas Eve!

Hey Santa! Hope You Are Hungry!

I am one of those people who likes to have all of the activities done within a year blogged in that year.  I used to be really crazy about them being in the correct month, but I have let that one go!  So, needless to say, the self imposed "blog crunch" before the end of the year is going to produce lots of posts.  Christmas Eve was going to be a very busy day, so we made cookies for Santa first thing so that we didn't forget!  The cookie decorating process has come a long way!  The first year we decorated, Olive wouldn't even touch the icing tube in fear that the icing might get on her hands, she enjoyed banging the sprinkles on the counter much more than actually sprinkling them and she didn't try to eat any of the cookies! Times have changed, my friends!  She was super excited to get started and did a really great job!  Stephen and I were both surprised!

  

 The finished product!

 Leaving them for Santa that night!