Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas (little late as usual) everyone!! We had a quiet, but fun little Christmas. It was the first Christmas we have spent when we didn't go anywhere or have anyone visit...just the four of us this year. The girls were so into it though that it made it so magical! They are at the perfect ages to really enjoy it. Here are highlights leading up to Christmas and some of the day. Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!!

I got to go to each girls class and help them decorate a cookie this year...here is Fin's... And Avery had us all there to help out as it was after the school Christmas program... Here's our little shepherd and donkey...The girls practiced for weeks on the songs for their Christmas Program. They had so much fun and were so proud of themselves:) It was a cute program. I love the fact that they are at a Christian school and have the blessing of celebrating Christ's birth in so many fun ways this time of year. Yes...I threw their costumes together the night before...they told us to keep it simple, so I did...you can see my horrible sewing skills all over the donkey's ears:) One night we headed over to a Christmas Storybook land where you walked around with tons of lighted trees and viewed hundreds of storybook scenes. At the end Santa was there to meet and greet. It was a long night of standing in line, but the girls were troopers and were delighted to meet Santa. Avery was especially intrigued by the elves and asked us on the way home if we had ever seen elves like that when we were kids. And I got zero good smile pictures from them...Avery was sporting this forced one pretty much the whole night when picture time came around. Santa almost gets a real smile:) We decorated a gingerbread house...last year we got a great kit from Rachel and I baked it up and we decorated it...it was fun to have a real gingerbread experience. We all spent one morning having so much fun! Turned out just as it should!! On Christmas eve my family has a tradition of reading the littlest angel. We have carried it on in our little family as well. I absoulutely love the story...the girls were a little anxious by the end, but they liked it too. Then they got some magic sleeping potion and were off to bed...well...almost...Avery woke up a few times. Each time she would come down into our room and say...mom, dad, it's not pm anymore...it's am...it's time to wake up! About the third time around 3am Kristian went in and slept on their floor...I so remember the excitement at that age and how you could just hardly sleep:)Here's our little bedheads discovering their stockings...

And opening some gifts...

One of the best gifts Santa brought was fingernail polish for each of the girls. This was a huge hit...funny how santa spends so much money for certain gifts and the most loved ones often seem to be the simplest:)

Avery wanted a race car set so bad...she has had so much fun with it!!

There you have it...our little Christmas in a nutshell. We are looking forward to a great new year with our new little addition waiting hopefully another week or so to arrive. We feel blessed and fortunate to have all that we have and are especially greatful for family and friends whom we love and miss dearly...Happy New Year all!!