Christmas 2013

This year the boys wrote their own Letters to Santa.  Hudson was able to write his with only a little help on spelling.  Holden's needed interpretation. We got an Elf of the Shelf this year. Holden named him Mr. Magic and Hudson agreed. Mr. Magic did all kinds of cool stuff and really helped the boys get out of bed in the month of December. He toilet papered our Christmas tree, made a zip line in the playroom and zip lined on a candy cane, he made a spiderman mask and hung upside down off of the chandelier (Holden didn't appreciate this one and cut him down), he spelled the boys names in goldfish and pretzels on the dining room table, he bathed in marshmallows, and he made a snow angel on the breakfast table. The boys were very good this year and Santa brought a lot of gifts for them. They received their first pet, Max Steele Risner, a fish from Aunt Lala, Christmas PJ's and Uggs from Nana and Pop, Jake and the Neverland Pirate and Lego stuff from Mamaw and Papaw. They received Beywheels, dinosaurs, Power Ranger Morphers etc from Santa. We were able to attend the Christmas Eve service and Hudson had his first communion.  Holden slept during the service and we sang Silent Night at the end.  We had Christmas at Aunt Joyce and Larry's home in Idabel the Sunday before Christmas.  Dorothy and Giles, Gaylen and Claudette, Gayla, Paige, Ben, Linden, Riley, Dillion, his wife Daphne, and her mother, father, and paternal grandmother were there.  We did a dirty santa gift exchange for the grownups.  We had our Christmas with Mom and Pat, Lacy, and Drew on Christmas eve and went to the 5:00 service with them.  After the service we came home and cleaned up, had baths, put on Christmas jammies, said goodbye to Mr. Magic, read our new Christmas book  "Christmas Eve with the Mellops", put out Christmas cookies and milk for Santa and sprinkled reindeer food outside for the reindeer, and read the Christmas story from Hudson Bible, and got into bed.  Mr. Magic went back to the North Pole for the year and Santa came!  The next morning Hudson got into bed with us about 6:30, then he got up about 7:30, didn't say a word, and went downstairs to check it out.  He was very quite for awhile, worried I think that Santa didn't come.  Then he said "Santa! He came, Santa Came!"  He immediately got his stocking down, not even noticing what was under the tree.  We asked him to wake his brother before he opened gifts.  Holden was not as eager to get out of bed at first but was so excited when he came downstairs.  He was so excited about the reeces pieces he wasn't interested in opening anything else.  Holden loved his Power Ranger Morpher and Hudson his beyblades and dinosaurs.  After we finished opening gifts we went over to Jason's parents.  We had breakfast there with Jeff, Sally, Maddie, and Shirley (Mammy).  The boys received too much as usual and had lots of fun playing with their new toys and Maddie.  This year the boys were able to spend Mom's birthday with her and attend the Lost Christmas Eve performance by Trans Siberian Orchestra at Verizon Arena, there first concert.  They loved it!  And the next day they accompanied mom and Pat to get their new German Shepard puppy, Ber(Gita).  The boys love the new puppy and play with her every chance they get.  Mom turned 50 this year and we weren't able to celebrate before Christmas so we celebrated on the 28th.  Mom, Pat, Sue, Byron, Janie, Grandma Jessie, and Lacy were all able to attend.  We celebrated here at the house.  We did not take any photos but have a great video of the event.  It was a blessed and joyful Christmas season filled with Jesus and family and friends.