December has flown by (why should it be any different from every other month?) but we've been enjoying some nice Christmas activities and traditions.
Last year, I was on maternity leave throughout the holiday season, and it was so delightful to be able to shop and wrap and bake during the day (with Claire strapped to me in the sling, since she wouldn't nap any other way!) and then focus on whole-family activities in the evenings and on the weekends. This year, I was working, of course, and had to fit everything into evenings and those all-too-fleeting weekends. So, some things fell by the wayside. I didn't do any baking, for instance, and not so many crafty things with Kate. Oh well. Pressure and stress have no place at Christmas, so we've just been having fun with what we have been able to do.
Here are a few highlights, in pictures:
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| Getting our tree, tied on top of Ari (AKA Ari the Entourage or Ari the Cari) |
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| Making a gingerbread house. One of the prettiest I've seen, if I do say so! |
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| 2nd Annual Cookie Baking with Granna (who has a matching apron ready for Claire when she's bigger) |
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| Addressing Christmas cards while watching my favorite Christmas movie, "Love Actually." |
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| Getting coordinating Christmas jammies from Nala. |
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| Going to Louisville to attend a fun Santa Safari event. |
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| We ate cookies and did a craft, and met fun characters. |
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| Including Mrs. Claus, Frosty, and Chilly Willy (a penguin) |
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And then there was the big guy himself!
Kate's one wish this year has been "star tights." We'll see if she gets them! :0) |
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| Then we saw a 4D mini-movie of The Polar Express. Kate was pretty freaked out by the special effects. |
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And we ended the day with ice skating at Fourth Street Live in downtown Louisville. Kate struggled at first, but by the end of the hour, she was inching along without any support! We'll definitely go again this winter.
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| We saw reindeer one Saturday, when they came to a local parking lot! |
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| We played at a good-old-fashioned toy store in downtown Franklin, Tenn. |
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| We took our 2nd Annual Jammies Christmas Light Drive. |
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| Always a highlight of my holiday season: wrapping presents. I love it! |
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The extent of my baking/treat-making this year:
these Strawberry Santa Hats for the girls' Christmas parties at school. |
This past weekend, we've kicked off Christmas vacation with a casual dinner party with some friends, dinner and gifts with Granna and Opa, and lots of church per usual on Sunday. Today, we've already had one church service, and now I'm home waiting for potatoes to boil so I can make these
Hummus Mashed Potatoes for Christmas Eve dinner at Matt's aunt's house.
Merry Christmas, all. I hope you are having a splendid holiday.
2 comments:
Rhyming name for a car = WIN! :)
Kate is looking so big and beautiful these days. I can't believe she's almost FOUR!
I'd say you've done plenty of Christmasy things for a working momma of two!
We tried to do the Christmas-lights-in-the-jammies thing (I remembered your post about how fun it was last year) this year, but Katelyn ended up running a fever on the night we had it planned. Maybe next year!
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