December 20

Sunday was the Christmas program during Sacrament meeting. Bill was in the choir so I was wrestling the 3 little ladies on my own. Surprisingly I was still able to get the spirit of the talks & songs, it was wonderful. The sister who spoke referred to Mary, the Nativity character who has been on my mind the most this month. I was reading in Luke 2 the other day and noticed that it refers to Mary "pondering these things in her heart" twice during the chapter. Obviously I identify with her because I also have young children. I wonder; exactly what she was pondering?, and for how long? did it bring her peace & understanding to ponder? This I do know; that she was chosen to be the mother of our Savior. I will be forever grateful to this fair & righteous woman who had the faith to do her Father's will.

That evening we spread some Christmas cheer. First we delivered some goodies to our friends & neighbors and then we drove through a neighborhood of lights. My girls had the idea to roll down the windows, stick their heads out, & sing Christmas carols. And so we did. It was memorable.

{I apologize for the terrible photos- but with no flash I was trying to make do with the dome lights.}

December 21

Today Madisen got to attend The Nutcracker with grandma Carruth. Due to some terrible traffic, they only made it to half of the performance. I'm sure it was a perfect way to ease Madisen into the world of theater. She LOVED it! Upon returning home she promptly changed into her pink ballet outfit complete with tights & her own version of a bun in her hair and then pranced around our living room. Her favorite part was the girl in the pink sparkly outfit with the pink tiara- pictured below- and the lady dressed like a strawberry.
Caitlyn was disappointed, to say the least, that she didn't get to go, too. I decided she needed a special outing so I took her here for a new do. Sweet and Sassy is a fancy, frilly, froofy place for young divas. She was greeted with a pink sparkle star for her cheek & hand. And they sprayed sparkles in her hair after it was cut & styled. The experience was complete with a 'gourmet' turquoise blue sucker. I think she felt pretty special!

{Sadly I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any action shots...}

As for Brooklyn, she has learned to get herself from crawling to sitting. She's so clever!

You had to be there

After a night of musical beds, I was awakened (from Caitlyn's bed) to her serenading herself in the hallway. She crawled out of our bed, about an hour after Bill left for work, and apparently couldn't find anyone. I just giggled to myself at her innocence and confidence. The second verse of the song was about Brooklyn being awake... When I tried to tell Bill about it last night the novelty of the situation wasn't quite the same, but I don't want to forget her sweet song.

Letters to Santa

Can't let the month go by without writing to the Man in Red. We hope they make it to the North Pole in time!

All Things Gingerbread

Pine, peppermint, cinnamon & home made gingerbread are smells that remind me of Christmas. When I was little we decorated gingerbread houses the first Monday of every month. We also had gingerbread people hanging on our tree. And my mom has the softest & tastiest gingerbread cookie recipe- not too gingery & not too sweet- it's perfect!

On Saturday we got together with our Texas cousins to decorate homemade gingerbread houses at grandma's. The girls enjoyed choosing their candy, squeezing the frosting & carefully placing the candy.

Look at these adorable girls, and one handsome David!! (If you look carefully you'll see that Brooklyn was there, too. She enjoyed from her usual perch.)

(Yes, that's red snow by Madisen's house.....)

On Monday the 14, we had some friends over for dinner and FHE. The kids got to decorate their own gingerbread cookie for dessert.

This afternoon we rolled out the rest of our dough- in our gymnastic outfits, of course.
Well, Madisen & I were rolling out the dough. Caitlyn decided the flour looked more interesting than the dough. And it lasted about 4x as long! Madisen joined her for a few minutes, but Caitlyn was in heaven!
In fact, it snowed before we were through! It's not often that I 'allow' my kids to make this kind of mess. But she as so delighted today & was even quite helpful when it came time to clean up!

Look who found our tree

I mean, look who can't stay away from the tree! She's mostly drawn to the colorful packages tied with bows. But tonight while I was cooking dinner, and the 2 big girls were coloring in the kitchen, I heard the quiet tinkling of a bell. Knowing that sound did not belong to one of her toys, I ran to find Brooklyn SO DELIGHTED with herself as she was ringing the bell. Who put that ornament there anyway? It was quickly relocated. And so was the grinning girl.

Christmas Countdown

Bill and I got a 'jump' start on our Christmas plans in early November. We wanted to make sure that our December wasn't too busy to truly enjoy the spirit of the season. Last year was W-A-Y too crazy & the month was over before we knew it. This year we get to stay in our own home and current home town for the whole month- for the first time in 6 years.

Dec. 1: Played Christmas cards with Grandma Dodds

Dec. 2: Christmas Tree and Decorations
It was so fun (and chaotic) that I didn't get any pics of the process. I love going through the boxes & re-discovering our holiday treasures! The kids were most excited about helping with the tree & I did the rest after they were in bed. We even got to hang our stockings this year!
While we were at my mom's house, she had her tree & my sister's train & village up for the kids to enjoy. And they LOVED it. I decided to put up my train, but it wasn't as exciting as Aunt Kellie's b/c it doesn't sing Christmas music.

Dec. 3: Red and Green Day; we painted our toe & fingernails red & green, then ate a festive dinner of spaghetti pie & green beans.

Dec. 4: A SNOW DAY in Houston
It's true! It has only snowed 35 times since 1850 in Houston, and it had NEVER snowed this early in the month. The girls we elated about the prospect of making a snowman. I wasn't hopeful, so we had snowman pancakes for breakfast. Later we watched a few old Christmas movies for our Friday night movie.

Dec. 5: Attempted to visit a Nativity Exhibit, but the traffic thwarted our plans.
The girls got to tell Santa what they want for Christmas at the ward party. Madisen would like a bigger bike & Caitlyn is wishing for a car garage for her cars.

Dec. 6: Decorated and secretly delivered some sugar cookies. The sweet aroma of homemade sugar cookies is certainly festive!

Dec. 7: Took pictures for the Christmas card....

I did it!

2 flights, 3 hours each with 3 girls & 1 mom- PHEW! People always did a double take when they saw that I was alone. Some facial expressions were disapproving while others were in awe. I heard more than once, "Wow- you have your hands full." I just smiled because there is nothing I'd rather have my hands full of- 3 angelic girls!