Elf on the Shelf 2016

Bernard made his annual appearance again!  He came bearing gifts a few times!

He brought us some North Pole Nibbles - which was Toll House cookie dough.

One evening Jeff was telling Molly and the little neighbor kids how he had recieved word from the North Pole that the elves were going to be passing out Santa cookies ~~~ AKA ~~~ Biscoff Cookies

Low and behold if we didn't get a present from Bernard that very next morning.  And it was SANTA COOKIES!  Molly was THRILLED!

He brought the kids a word search

And he hid candy canes all around the basement living room and the kids had to find them.

He brought Molly a puzzle!

We found him all bundled up in the fridge sitting right next to whipped cream, egg nog, chocolate syrup and in the acutal bowl of Aunt Pauline's homemade butter mints!

He brought the kids Elf Kisses to help them to remember to be good.  The bag had a little note on it that said:

With little elf eyes watching,

There's not a lot that Santa misses, 

So to help you be good today,

Here's a bunch of sweet elf kisses!

He made his own version of a snow angel -- with our sugar!

We caught him trying to get the candy off of Molly's gingerbread house.  That crazy Elf sure does love sugar!

He played with Disney's Frozen dolls Elsa, Anna and Kristoff and of course Sven the deer.

He played with Cade's GI Joes.  Looks like they caught Bernard and held him hostage!

And he sat right on Santa's lap and held his arm.  We love our visits from Bernard every single year!

Higginson (Adult) Christmas Party

Jeff and I hosted the adult Christmas party again this year.  We had a delicious prime rib dinner and played games.  Jeff also bought each of his brothers a hoodie and the girls all got a lotion and soap from Bath and Body Works from him.  He really is Santa Claus!

Family Candy Day

Candy day oh candy day....

how do I love thee....

let me count the ways.....

I love that I have a large accommodating kitchen so that I can fit everyone in it for this day!  I seriously thought about this day when I was designing my kitchen.  My only mistake was my oven / stove top.  I have 6 burners with a griddle on the side.  I wish I would have had 4 burners then the griddle with the last 2 burners on the other side, instead of having all 6 burners together.  Often times there are 3 of us cooking on it at once.  There would just be more room if they burners were separated.  But what am I complaining about?  It all works out and I love the day spent with family!

Sidney has been cooking with grandma, learning how to make peanut brittle and English toffee.

Aunt Pauline brought her 2 granddaughters this year!

And I was super excited to be able to have cousin Shelly Hartvigsen Unga, her daughter Jessica Unga and Great Aunt Marda Hartvigsen Mendenhall come!

  

Bless Marissa's heart - this year she made all of "my" candy for candy day.  I was kind of running around getting pots, pans, measuring cups and spoons and helping the little girls.  She made my fudge for me, my caramel and my chocolate dipped pretzels.  She did a great job!

I also had a hot cocoa bar set up.

Some had to leave early (before dark that is, ha ha!) but we made trays of treats for them.  

The rest of us are pictured with all our goodies.  I love this tradition!