Christmas 2011

I think I am going to start a petition to make the holiday season last for a few more weeks, because I seriously cannot get it all done in one month! Here are some highlights of our Christmas this year, mostly the ones we got photos of!

While the others were putting up the tree...

The Nutcracker! The girls did SO well at the theater, and LOVED the performance so much. It was so fun to take them. They know the story well already, and they were literally at the edge of their seats almost the entire ballet.

The only snow before Christmas, and it didn't stick around for long.

Playing Rudolph after watching the movie.

"Gingerbread" houses

Christmas morning

At the zoo early to see animals before Zoo Lights began.

Our New Year's Eve celebration dinner--a tradition of pasta, from my Dad. Eric's homemade noodles were delicious! The girls loved their special glasses. We're just glad they didn't break them!

Just before Christmas we stopped at the downtown library to see the trains display, and it was fabulous! We read lots of Christmas books all through the month, and my favorite find of the month was "A Wish For Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story" by Berkeley Breathed. LOVED it.

The kids got the "Snowmen" books by Mark and Caralyn Buehner on Christmas Eve this year.

We got to do Christmas Eve festivities at my sister's house, and the kids loved playing, and eating, and playing some more. But they did not particularly like being forced to reenact the Nativity! We tried nonetheless, and without a single photo to prove it, we actually got through the whole story. We ate our traditional hors d'oeuvres and then had a ham dinner later, complemented by lots of chocolate throughout the afternoon and evening! All of our kids got their new pjs to wear home.

I did get out some of the classic Christmas movies to watch while I did things like wrap presents or fold laundry. Eric ended up watching with me, and I found him chuckling as much as, if not more than I did during the old favorites like "It's A Wonderful Life" and "White Christmas." That was my favorite thing.

It's been a big year for us, and next year will be even more life-changing for us. Lots of possibilities, lots of uncertainties, but lots to look forward to. Happy 2012!