On our way

to Grandma and Grandpa's we stopped at the Build-a-Bear workshop for the boys final gift from us--they each picked out a sweet puppy, helped make it, named them (Ezekiel's is Puppy, Isaiah's is Airbud) and they got to LOOK at the outfits.

This is where we got creative--everyone seems to "do Santa" a little differently, but we have been pretty upfront with them.  They'll talk about Santa and be excited and that's totally fine, but we'll inevitably get around to "Is that what the cartoon says happens?  That's really fun to talk about...Santa is really nice, and there really was someone who gave gifts, but this is just a fun thing to remember--a good story.  What about Jesus, is He just a story, or is He real?"  And 2 booming voices resound with, "He's REAL!"  So with that said, instead of us surprising the boys with a little gift "from Santa" this year, they got to be Santa.  They looked at all the outfits, decided which was their favorite, then I took Isaiah out while Ezekiel picked out a special outfit for Isaiah (keeping in mind what Isaiah was wanting) and when they were done, I took Isaiah in to pick out a special outfit for Ezekiel.  They were so excited and really get into keeping secrets, so they did a great job--and there was a little suspense, just in case brother didn't get just the right one.  They got to open these gifts from Santa Ezekiel and Santa Isaiah on Christmas morning.

When we were really close to Brownstown, we saw this stunning sunset--how beautiful!  The boys took the opportunity to take pics with their cameras (although this one is from my camera).