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....