Celebrating December...
There were quite a few nights of celebrating around our house, as the month went on. We decorated the house...in stages. :) We cranked up the Christmas music...daily. We shopped for gifts (later this year than usual) and made some crafts. And, we tried to fit in a few of the traditions that make this month fun for our girls. It seems that every year gets busy, and some things fall off the to-do list because of time. This year was definitely that way.
-Christmas cards never made it out (maybe you'll get a New Year's card instead!).
-We didn't decorate a gingerbread house or bake Christmas cookies.
-And, we didn't find time to even visit Santa at the mall (gasp!).
But, we did have a fun month of celebrating, and from the smiles on these faces, I feel like our girls are more than satisfied with their Christmas festivities.
Some of my favorite things from this season that we DON'T have pictures of:
1) Reading Christmas books. Our collection has grown with each passing year, and it is so fun to watch their eyes light up when that box gets opened. I, myself, get a bit giddy when we start opening them up!
2) Playing with the nativity scene. A couple of years ago, I bought a clay nativity scene. The characters are "kid friendly", with a stable, a star, and a special box for the people to go in at the end of the season. Some of the most priceless moments are watching my girls "play out" the story of Jesus' birth...over and over every day. Now, Abby Kate has started too. Only she likes to hide the characters. We were missing a donkey and the angel for a few days. Quite traumatic for my other two. :)
3) Watching Christmas movies. Kind of like the books...they've been gone for a year, so they become even more special when they come back out again. I don't know if it's still available, but if you get a chance to look for "The First Noel" on DVD, it's our absolute favorite.
4) The special Christmas countdown. Last year, we had an advent calendar that shared a new name of Jesus each day. This year, my mom did a very special countdown. They worked a puzzle, and each day got a few new pieces, as well as a small treat. On the back of that section of the puzzle, there was a job written for them to do for someone else. It was a sweet way to celebrate each day, as we got closer to Christmas day and the girls LOVED getting to open it each day. In fact, on Christmas morning, I walked in to escort them downstairs to see their Santa gifts. Carlie wanted to wait until she did her last treat bag before we could continue! That says alot!!
5) Christmas with Uncle Joe, Aunt Nancy, Josh, Uncle Don, and Kathleen (Mark's family from California and Colorado). Don't ask me why I carried my camera around all weekend, and only got two pictures...but it's true. It was a fun weekend catching up with family, and sharing some usual laughs and old stories. There was great food, and good entertainment, as we all tried our best at a "Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation" quiz, opened lottery tickets hoping for big wins, and looked through old picture albums of Papa and Grandma. I'm sad I have no pictures to show for it, except for this one of a very cute girl with her favorite new monkey from Aunt Nancy. :)
Now, for some other things we did this year in pictures:
Now, for some other things we did this year in pictures:
1) PJ's and Christmas Lights. 
The tradition continues...Babe's chicken, PJ's, Blankets, Starbucks, and lots of ooo's and awww's. This year we actually took multiple trips to see lights, including one with the cousins to see an old neighborhood in Fort Worth that we enjoyed growing up. It was a fun year for lights, especially with Abby Kate. All of her "Looook!" and "Wow!" never got old. Look at the joy on this little face! She was amazed every time.
The tradition continues...Babe's chicken, PJ's, Blankets, Starbucks, and lots of ooo's and awww's. This year we actually took multiple trips to see lights, including one with the cousins to see an old neighborhood in Fort Worth that we enjoyed growing up. It was a fun year for lights, especially with Abby Kate. All of her "Looook!" and "Wow!" never got old. Look at the joy on this little face! She was amazed every time.
During one night of light-watching, Carlie said "This is the best Christmas EVER!" And, she has continued to say it often since then. These are such fun ages for the holidays and I LOVE it!2) A trip to the Gaylord Texan (with a promise to return later to see the ICE display. :).
The Gaylord is amazing at Christmas, and we enjoyed taking the girls to see all the lights, sit in the sled, look at the gingerbread houses, and watch the many trains. They got their picture made with Mrs. Claus and pet a live reindeer, and we had a "big girl" dinner at the restaurant there, where they got to use real glasses...the highlight of their dinner!
3) Mark and I had a quick trip to Vegas to celebrate Christmas with his team of managers. I won't go into the ups and downs of a trip, but let's just say that Vegas had 10 inches of snow...which they hadn't had since the 1970's. And, our first flight got cancelled. We tried again the next day and finally got to Vegas over 21 hours later than we had planned.
It was all worth it, though, when we got to stop at InNOut on our way into town. Heavenly. We were both giddy as we took our first bite. And, Mark resistantly took his picture with his burger. I don't know why he felt silly posing this way! :)
Even with all the trouble of getting there, it was a fun time celebrating with JUST my hubby. We got to have a nice dinner out, I got to spend the afternoon at the spa, and he got to lose money at the poker table! All of our favorite things in one trip! :)
The Bellagio, where we stayed, was decked out in beautiful Christmas decor, which made me wish our girls were there. I took a few pictures so they could see a little bit of the magical feeling it had, although pictures don't do it justice. 
4) Another fun celebration that had nothing to do with Christmas...except that it is the reason our London friends came home!! We got to celebrate Carter's birthday with the Ownby's and Smith's and a few other friends at Planet Pizza
...and it is SOOO good to have them home! We've had a couple of different lunches and dinners with them while they're been here, trying to catch up before they have to return.
The best part has been watching our kids reunite, and they have all just fallen right back into their friendships without a hitch. 
And, new friendships have been started for the little ones too! Carter and Abby Kate had an instant love, and walked around the party like this:
They even sat together at the "big kid" table! How are they this big?!
It has been great having these families here, and we look forward to the day when they're home for good. :)
5) My last pre-Christmas celebration to share--the Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Breakfast at church---is obviously too much for blogger, so I'll be back with a little more!
2 comments:
Sounds like you have had a very blessed holiday season. It was so good to be able to enjoy catching up with you a little the other night. May you have a wonderful New Year!
Oh my goodness, Chels. It's been forever since I've blogged or read blogs, so I'm just catching up! We had such a good time seeing you and your sweet family over Christmas. Our family misses your family so much! I love the picture of Trinity and Kendyll! That is SO them!! They do love each other and it really was like no time at all has passed. I guess that's what happens when you've known someone your entire life!! Maybe they have that special bond because they were supposed to be born 2 days apart (although you beat me to the punch 2 weeks early)! Anyway, we are so blessed to have such special friendships that we know will last a lifetime. We can't wait to get home and pick up right where we left off. We love you and miss you so much! Hope you're having a happy January my sweet friend!
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