Christmas Toys....

So the girls are already bored of their new toys, but Jason is not. Santa Claus brought him a much-needed, new video camera for Christmas and has played with it non-stop since receiving it.

Last night Jason's brother Jeff and his girlfriend Kristina came for a visit and Jason and Jeff decided to film their first short, "New Year, Bad Luck". I'm sure this is worthy of entry into the Sundance Film Festival this year, but you be the judge. Hope you enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01DNzTtszsA

Gearing up for our trip to the "North Pole"

Tickets in hand and ready to be punched by the conductorWe picked up Santa and now get to tell him what's on our list
Kerry and Jason enjoying the train ride

We started out the Christmas season on the North Pole Express, traveling to the North Pole to get Santa. This was our second year doing it and while a cute idea, may be our last. The kids had fun but the adults couldn't get passes the horribly out of tune "elves". Who doesn't know the tune of Jingle Bells? I am not kidding, it was laughable! But, we drank our chocolate milk, ate our cookies and rang our jingle bells loudly as Santa came ho-ho-ho-ing through the train car. Once we arrived back at the station, Santa settled down in the caboose and the kids all got to sit on his lap and spill their Christmas wishes. This is where Madeleine asked for a purple bike and Lily, always wanting to be just like her big sis, asked for a bike as well....oh and 2 (not 1, but 2) Ariel dolls - that's my girl!

Making and Eating a Gingerbread House

My mom came over to help the girls make a gingerbread house and I think there was a lot more tasting than there was constructing. Here are a couple of pictures of them icing the roof and one of Lily looking rather impatient while waiting her turn for gumdrop placement. What a fun day for the girls!

The newest member to our family....Jasper the Elf

Last year Candie introduced me to a Christmas Miracle....the Elf on the Shelf. This year, my mom was able to find one for us and we introduced our new Elf Jasper to the girls....I must say he is able to work some wonders when it comes to Peace on Earth, well, most of the time. On the eve of November 30th, the doorbell rang and there was a book waiting for us at the doorstep, titled, "The Elf on the Shelf". The girls brought the book inside and we read it together. It told us all about our elf and how Santa sent him down from the North Pole to "know when we've been bad or good."

The elf sits on a shelf and we don't touch him because that takes his magic away. We can talk to him and ask him to send messages to Santa Claus, but he can't talk back - strict orders from Santa himself. Every night when we go to bed, the elf magically flies up to the North Pole to report the days happenings to Santa and then quickly flies back to our house before we awake, finding a new spot to sit and watch us. In our house, the elf also brings a small treat and leaves it in our stocking to show that Santa got a good report that day. The girls really enjoyed waking up to find their treat and then searching for the elf in his new spot each morning.

I am happy to report that in 24 days of live Santa Cam, via the elf, we only had one day w/ coal in our stockings - and boy were we especially good that next day!

We named our elf Jasper and registered him as the official Rupe Family elf online at http://www.elfontheshelf.com/

The girls were sad to see him go on Christmas Eve but we assured them that he'd be back next year so we better be good, for goodness sake!

Here is Jasper, looking down on us