The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Don't you just love December? Beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere, yummy goodies, goodwill to all! Maybe I'm a tad biased, but this is my favorite time of he year. I love shopping and baking and drinking hot cocoa by the fire! This year, I tried my hand at candymaking. I made fudge, peppermint bark, and divinity in addition to the dozens of cookies. Fudge is tricky - and dangerous. I have several burns as proof. That's why only my favorite (local) people are getting any. :)

We've also made several gingerbread houses this year. Lauren made one for the Gingerbread Festival in November and another for a YW activity, and Lindsey and Emily each made one for fun. Add the one from a party Lindsey went to and the ones we're supposed to make for the Riley-Kearney family party this Sunday, and now we've got a whole village! Gingerbread, anyone?

Lauren got really into the Christmas spirit last week for Spirit Day at school, and dressed up as a Who from Whoville. Her friends were supposed to dress up, too, but none of them could get the hairdo to work so they gave up. Being as self-confident as Lauren is, it didn't bother her a bit to be the only Who wandering the halls at LJHS. I love that about her! How many 12 year olds do you know who could pull that off? Little girls LOVED her look, and giggled and pointed everywhere we went that day. One little girl at Target got SO excited, and was loudly trying to get everyone else to notice Lauren Lou Who, too. Lauren, of course, loved that!

Lindsey is really hilarious! In class, they have centers each week that I get to help out with. One week, they were supposed to paint a picture and write their Christmas wish. Everyone else was busily painting that special toy they want under the tree, but not Lindsey. Her wish was that our 2 cats would have goodwill and get along. This week, they wrote about their favorite Christmas traditions. Now, Kent and I have put a lot of effort into creating several great traditions: gingerbread houses, seeing The Nutcracker and Thanksgiving Point's Holiday Lights, decorating the trees, watching holiday movies together, the HUGE Advent calendar...... Any one of these would've worked for this assignment, but Lindsey's favorite tradition is celebrating my birthday on Christmas Eve. She's actually looking forward to it as much as she is Christmas! It's really silly what kids find interesting and fun, isn't it? Lindsey was also darling in her school's Christmas Sing-Along. Unfortunately, the video file is too large, so I can't post it. :(

Emily was so cute in both her preschool's Christmas program and her dance recital. She's such a little performer - just like her sisters! For someone so shy, she's amazingly comfortable onstage. She obviously knew her dance really well, since she was always one step ahead of the other dancers. When I asked her about her favorite Christmas tradition, she told me it was "giving presents away". She loved choosing gifts for her friends and wrapping them, but sighs heavily and says she has enough toys whenever I ask her what she wants Santa to bring her. It's sweet, but it's making shopping for her a tad more difficult. :)

Both little girls had Polar Express Day at school this week. It's the latest trend, and a great way to celebrate Christmas at school. They both got little bells and went to school in their jammies - what could be better?