The Jesters: Christmastime!

The girls' Christmas season isn't complete without their Elf on a Shelf, Holly, getting into silly situations the entire month of December. The girls wake up every morning and immediately find Holly so they can see what trouble she got herself into the night before.

When she arrived on the scene this year, she was joined by her arctic fox pet and a tiny chicken stuffed animal. She gave Emma and Hallie a gift to open!

The gift was a second Elf on a Shelf pet, a Saint Bernard puppy, along with a book telling his story.

Holly and her cute pets got to work creating mahem in our house! We woke up to find that they'd rolled our Christmas tree with toilet paper!

Caught in the act!

We think the pets were innocent - they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time!

The morning that we traveled to Washington DC, they stole Barbie's car and gave us directions towards D.C.!

Holly left instructions on how to make rainbow magic.

They added warm water to a plate of Skittles candies. It turned out very pretty!

She helped us keep our countdown to Christmas Day. Unfortunately, she wrote it with toothpaste.

Speaking of tooth care, Hallie lost a tooth in December, and Holly and her friends got to meet the Tooth Fairy! Apparently she's cute, because the puppy has a major crush on her now.

The Tooth Fairy tried to teach Holly to floss, but I don't think she's figured out the technique yet.

Some of the Christmas animals joined Holly for a game of Bingo one night.

Another night, she invited every single stuffed animal in the house to the living room for popcorn and a movie night. We found them watching "Elf" the next morning.

And on Christmas Eve, Holly and her pets checked in on the girls one last time.

I'm staaaaarrrring at you...

Pssstt...can you hear me? Are you really asleep??

Christmas morning finally arrived, and we woke up to find our stockings filled and piles of gifts under the tree!

Both girls received a My Puppy's Home toy with a doghouse they had a build. After they built it, they followed a few instructions, and a puppy toy magically appeared inside the doghouse!

Showing off their new puppies

My brother, Steve, and his son, Rowan, visited us over Christmas week, and we had such a great time with them! We missed Steve's wife and daughter, Sheila and Meera, who were visiting family in India, but we had fun with the boys!

The kids spent a LOT of time on the trampoline together!

Photos from Christmas morning:

My boss gave Dan this headlamp beanie hat, which made us all laugh! But it's really come in handy when he's worked in the garage this winter!

Hallie was sick with a fever all during Christmas week, so we spent most days at our house doing puzzles and playing games while the kids played together. It was simple and very relaxing.

Steve bought some Duck Donuts, and we tried to get Hallie and Rowan to do a blindfold taste test of all the flavors. But they both ended up taking off their blindfolds and just choosing their favorites.

We did make it to a playground near the end of their time with us.

And took the kids to a Chick-Fil-A one afternoon while Steve was working.

Just before Steve and Rowan headed home, we visited Bounce House with the kids. We spent hours there and had a blast!

Our Jester side of the family battled sickness all Christmas, so we weren't able to celebrate the holidays until around New Year. It was great to finally see everyone!

The kids love to distribute the gifts to everyone. We've tried to organize the gift opening process, but it took hours. So we just let the kids tear into their gifts all at once, which takes roughly 10 seconds. Then the adults can take their time opening gifts.

Grandpa and Grandma buy Christmas crackers for the meal. Two people pull each side of the wrapper until it breaks, and you get to keep the paper crown and prize inside.