Merry Christmas From The Dyers!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year! I love to light a Christmas candle, play some Christmas music, light and fire and have a cozy morning inside. On Christmas Eve Eve we normally go to dinner and to look at Christmas lights. The excitement is stirring in our home, the kids can't wait until Christmas morning! 

This year we included a picture of our family of five, a picture of our three kiddos and one of Bryson alone because it is his first Christmas. 

From our family to yours, we hope you have a Merry Christmas!

XOXO

Christy

Friday Favorites

I am linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea to share my Friday favorites! I can't believe Christmas is only a couple of days away!! I am sad to see the season go, but we created SO many memories. 

ONE

We have a lot of items at Trader Joe's that are our favorite (I might need to do another post on that). We found these the last trip we made and we all love them! So good especially with milk in a Santa mug. :) 

TWO

Once a week we go for donuts because the kids LOVE them. We like to go to Shipley, they're very good and have a drive-thru. When we went this week, our donuts came in a Christmas box and the donuts had Christmas sprinkles. The kids were so excited.. (it's the little things), so that was a favorite of theirs for sure!

THREE

Cousins

Kinsley & Witten's masterpiece

On Saturday night, we took our kids to a kid's night out at a little painting shop by our house. On the schedule was painting a Santa canvas, eating pizza, making a reindeer trivet and playing games. My kids were so pumped about this. They really loved that their cousins were going too. When we picked them up, they had a great time! Here is a picture of the kiddos before class started and a picture of their canvas (we haven't picked up their trivets yet). I love this little shop, it's so fun. 

FOUR

Almost every year since 2001 my friends from middle school, YES MIDDLE SCHOOL have done a Christmas party. It usually includes food, an exchange of some sort (ornament, gift, etc....) and lots of fun catching up. Over the years it has always been the original four of us, but some years we have more girls and some years we opt to just be us. Now that we all have kids, we include the kids and do a kid's gift exchange---they LOVE it! Last night we did our party and had lots of fun. I love these girls and their kiddos. 

FIVE

I am sure you have seen the ornaments at Pier One.... they have so many cute ones. Every year I pick out a couple of these. This year I got a snowman one and a nativity one. The nativity is my very favorite! It comes in a nice box and is a beautiful ornament!

SIX

On Monday, Bryson was diagnosed with RSV and double infection... :( I hate that he's feeling so bad... but I sure have loved his snuggles! He also still manages to give a smile, even not feeling well. He is doing better now and hopefully he will be back to himself quickly. 

SEVEN

A few weeks ago, Beau packed up all three kids and took them to that little shop I mentioned in an earlier post (Cloth And Glaze). He told them he wanted the kids foot prints on a plate using Santa, a reindeer and an elf. This is what they created and I LOVE it! I also love how Kinsley & Witten wrote their own names. I will cherish this forever. 

EIGHT

Kinsley's creation

Witten's creation

Another tradition we do each Christmas is go to Grapevine to do the blown glass ornaments. It started out just being Beau & I (the kids were too little). Last year and this year we took the kids with us and let them pick out the colors. We picked them up today and they turned out really good. 

Just for fun... years past!

Kinsley's 2015

Witten's 2015

NINE

The puppet show and gingerbread houses at Northpark Mall were a favorite. Witten was less than thrilled about the puppet show, but was so enthralled by it once it started. He asked if we could stay the whole day and watch it every hour. haha. 

TEN

So I have seen SO many different things people do for the postal workers, UPS, FEDEX, etc... I have liked all of them, but I chose to do this one. It is easy, simple and just a small token of our appreciation. We get SO many packages during Christmas and show this is something I decided to do... it includes: cold water bottles, chips, treats, apples, oranges, granola bars... 

And last but not least... I LOVE sending & receiving Christmas cards! My kids have loved opening all the ones we have received. Here is ours this year... We included just Bryson by himself on this one because it is his very FIRST Christmas!

It was long today, but those are some of my Friday favorites! Today is one of my very favorite days.... From our home to yours, we're wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Friends Annual Christmas Party (Favorite Things) 2016

This past Wednesday night I hosted our annual Christmas party! Each year we decide on a date, what we will exchange, everyone brings a dish and we have loads of fun. Some years it is just the four of us with our kids and some years there are more of us. Most of the time we choose just to do the four of us. We have all been friends since middle school and it's fun and easier to chat and catch up.

Over the years, we have done ornament exchanges, two gifts to exchange, etc. This year we decided that everyone would bring a favorite item for everyone. Each girl brought the same item to give to everyone. It was so much fun! Each child also brought a gift to exchange. We drew numbers and they chose the gift in order and had the option of trading if they wanted to.

Kinsley chose this art set as her gift and was hoping so bad that she got her gift and got to keep it. haha... Lucky her, she chose number 1, so she picked her gift and kept it. She was THRILLED and played with it most of the night. haha.

Witten's favorite part of the night was getting a Batman shaving set. :) He kept asking if he could go take a bath during the party. He just couldn't wait to shave. haha. So the minute everyone left, he was undressed and in the bath. For the gift exchange, Witten got a Spider Man Beanie and a candy cane full of Rolos.

The elves must have loved the kid's gifts too. haha..... We woke up this morning to this!

On Monday, Bryson was diagnosed with RSV and double ear infection... :( So he didn't join in the fun, he was fast asleep upstairs. Poor little guy, didn't feel good... Everyone was wanting to see him, but he just couldn't hang. The kids were all so loud, having fun and playing, but Bryson slept right through it.

I provided drinks (Ho, Ho punch, Wine, Peach tea, water, diet coke and juice for the kids), some appetizers and a few desserts. The others brought different appetizers to add to what I already had. (I did not get a picture of my drinks station). (The Ho Ho Punch is 1 bottle of champagne, 1 bottle of ginger ale and 2 pkgs frozen strawberries.) We also had macaroni casserole, fruit and veggie tray & meat & cheese tray.

Cream cheese, caramel dip, Ritzies, Christmas popcorn

I had my drinks setup in the butler's pantry, the appetizers spread out on the big counter in my kitchen and the desserts were on the island.

Here are the items I received during the favorite things: Wine, Starbucks, Body Splash, and Dry Shampoo! How fun. I gave out these Sephora face masks as my favorite thing.

We get so busy throughout the year and this is such a fun way to spend time together, catching up and enjoying each other's company. The kids always have the best time too. Another successful Christmas party in the books. The fail of the night was not getting a picture of all of us together! **Thanks to Beau for helping me get everything ready!

Our Favorite Christmas Traditions

Can you believe Christmas is in 5 days??? I still feel like I have a lot to do....
Here we go... traditions.

We leave milk and cookies for Santa.......


We LOVE to send and receive Christmas cards.... a picture of our card this year (not the best picture).

We decorate our house for Christmas... here is the outside of ours. My husband always does such a great job on the outside!

We welcome our elf, Jolly! The kids love it... this year he brought a friend, Sparkle!

The kids get a set of new Christmas pajamas (or 10 sets :))......

We wrap our favorite Christmas books for advent. The kids take turns choosing one each night and we read it around the Christmas tree. 

Pictures with Santa... we go to the same Santa every year! 2016

Bryson's first Santa picture. He was really studying Santa. :) 2016

2016

Just for fun are Santa pics throughout the years... I have each one framed and put them out each year. The kids love looking at them and so do we. :) I also have a cute little sign sitting out that reads: Santa Is Watching... :) 

2011

Kinsley's 1st Christmas!

2012

Witten's 1st Christmas! This year Kinsley wasn't so happy to see Santa & Witten doesn't know what to think! haha... 

We decided to get Witten's picture taken by himself since it was his first Christmas. This was taken at the Gaylord. 

2013

This year I decided to do pajama pictures--they are gonna love me for this one day! Witten isn't so sure this year about Santa! This is also the year we decided we would come back to this Santa each year. 

2014

2015

Letters to Santa... this year he wrote them back! Kinsley keeps writing him back and she got one back the other day. She was thrilled!!!! :) I am assuming someone writes back from the post office. 

We make a glass blown ornament... it started out just the two of us and we started including the kids. They love it and get to pick the colors, etc. Witten was too afraid to go near the fire, so he watched from afar. :)

Gingerbread Houses are always on our list..... it's always so much fun!

The Southlake Tree Lighting is always fun too.....

The Parade of Lights in Fort Worth! This year we took my three nieces with us... it was crazy, but we had fun!

Carriage Ride through Highland Park.. one of my favorites!

This year we got elfed... the kids were so very excited! We elfed someone from our neighborhood. It's kind of like the Boo'ed during Halloween. This was elf'ed and it is between our neighborhood.. so fun! The friend/neighbor that elf'ed us thought of each child individually, Bryson too! It was fun. 

Baking sweet treats... this picture is from last year (we haven't baked ours yet this year).

An annual Christmas Party with a few of my friends since middle school... sometimes we add more friends and sometimes it's just the four of us. We have done a gift exchange, ornament exchange... this year we are doing a favorite things theme.... Now that we have kids, we do a gift exchange for them too. It's a fun night to get together, chat, eat, drink and have fun. This picture is from a couple years ago. We have been doing this just about every year since 2001.

We drive and look at nights just about every single night... but this house is one of our very favorite houses! We keep hoping to drive by one night when the Grinch is out. The kids absolutely love seeing the Grinch on the screen (it looks real). 

The kids sing in the Christmas program at church. 

Witten had his preschool Christmas program. 

Kinsley had her dance performance (nothing big, just a small preview). 

We do the Live Nativity every year and afterwards they have petting zoo, bounce houses, food trucks, hot cocoa... It is one of our favorite traditions. Sadly, my I didn't take many pictures this year. I was holding Bryson. :) I posted a picture from the year before of us on the trailer. 

We always do something different... One year we stayed the night at the Gaylord and did all the activities, last year we did the Polar Express Train, this year we did Rudolph at the Bass Hall. 

Here are a few from last year of our trip to the Gaylord:

Those are just a few of our many traditions during Christmas!