December stuff and Christmas

On December 1st we woke up to lots and lots of snow...

...which of course meant that there would be no school. The kids had a blast playing outside with the neighbors.





Later they went to our backyard to build the cutest little snowman, but when they tried to shove a giant carrot into his face for a nose...

...his poor little head disintegrated. Ah, well.

I think Finnley would have had fun with them, but probably not for long. And I wasn't up for getting him all geared up just to have him decide to be done in five minutes. So he just watched.

Shortly after the big snowfall we went and picked out our Christmas tree.

It was so stinking heavy that it broke our tree stand when we tried to stand it up, so it was kind of a nightmare getting it to stay upright. We eventually did it, though, and I got it all decorated pretty... and then it dried out and later fell down on top of Pyper and nearly got thrown outside and burned- BEFORE Christmas.

As part of our Christmas festivities we always look forward to the party that our church has each year. They had a sort of talent show for the program, during which all of the kids put on the Nativity and then sang a beautiful song for us.

Hakan was in the back somewhere so I didn't see him the entire time, but Pyper was right up front and was just so precious holding her little friend's hand as they sang.


The kids got a special surprise visit by the Big Man at the end of the party. (And Finnley didn't have a total conniption when we put him on Santa's lap!)



We got to spend a fantastic Christmas Eve with our friends, the Danes, having a wonderful meal then just talking and playing games while the kids went crazy played upstairs.

Once we got home we did our usual Christmas Eve stuff, like setting out the stockings, putting cookies and milk out for Santa and reading "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" with Daddy. Unfortunately we couldn't find the book so we just read it on Aaron's iPod.

And here's our stupid, crooked, dead and dry tree with all the presents under it, waiting for the most magical morning of the year.


On Christmas morning we make the kids wait at the top of the stairs while I go downstairs to plug in the tree lights and get the camera ready.

They paused in the doorway to soak in the splendor of everything, then...



They get to dive right into their stockings right away.

Finnley wasn't really sure what to do, but he eventually figured it out.

Aaron indulges me and lets us keep up the tradition that my family always did by taking turns opening presents one at a time, going youngest to oldest. I love being able to see what everyone got and knowing who it came from. Plus it lasts longer. :)









We made a nice big mess of the living room, though most of it doesn't show in this photo.

Both kids got remote control cars so later Aaron took them outside to give 'em a spin.

Even though we didn't have any family with us for Christmas this year, it was still really nice. Knowing that this would be our last Christmas here in Caldwell I was really glad we got to spend it at home.

With the move looming and things getting more and more chaotic as it got closer, Christmas kind of took a back seat in my mind this year. It was hard to focus on it and I was less able to enjoy it, and all the while being well aware that this was happening. By Christmas week I was just ready for it to be over. That probably sounds terrible, but it's the truth. I didn't want the preparations for our move to interfere with Christmas, but of course they did (at least for me). Luckily the kids were still able to enjoy it, which is what I wanted more than anything.