'Tis the Season...

...for being thankful
Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, but in the end, we have SO many things to be thankful for!

...for tea with Mrs. Claus


Mimi and I took the children to Mrs. Hardesty's Tea Room for stories and tea with Mrs. Claus. I knew Makayla would enjoy it, but had no idea just how much Liam would enjoy himself. He wasn't as into the stories as Makayla, but he devoured the many cookies offered to him. He loved the cocoa as well.

...for photo opportunities for Christmas cards
I thought it would be fun to dress the kids in matching pjs, give them HUGE lollipops, and have a photo shoot for our Christmas cards. There were laughs, squeals, sticky fingers, messy faces...AND lots of cute photos. It was certainly tough to choose which ones we used for the family card.

...for making cookies
We had our first snow, and two unexpected days off of school. This gave us a chance to get a head start on cookie making and preparing for the holidays. We started with gingerbread men.

...for playing in the snow
Both kids enjoyed playing in our first snow. Again, laughs and squeals were constant sounds in the front yard.

...for building snowmen
We finally were able to build Makayla's first snowman. For the past few years, the snow was either too deep or too fluffy to build a snowman, so Makayla was beyond excited to create this friend made of snow.

...for cookie exchange parties
We had the family over for a cookie exchange party. We had tons of cookies, good food, and good fun. We had a scavenger hunt for the children and carol games for the adults. Everything was based on a gingerbread man theme...except for our special guest. We talked Uncle Darrell into dressing up like Santa!

...for Christmas plays and celebrating the birth of Jesus
Makayla started her Sunday School class this fall. She and her classmates performed in the annual Christmas play. Her class quoted Luke 2:11, sang Away in a Manger, and Happy Birthday Jesus. Seth and I had our doubts that she'd even stay on stage. She is the youngest in her class, but was by far the loudest. She smiled, spoke loudly, and in my eyes, lit up the room. She was too cute! Funny story...we were assigned to practice her part3 daily. One particular day after we practiced her verse, Makayla asked, "Why does it talk about witches?" Oh, the innonocense! "For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Ha ha! :)

...for celebrating the gift of reading
We hosted a "Season's Readings" celebration at school. We allowed the children to wear their pajamas, invited guest readers, and celebrated the gift of reading. I brought Makayla and Liam to school with me...in their pjs, of course. They were able to listen to Mimi read and headed home with her. It was so fun to have my family at school with me.

...for making MORE cookies
Mom came over on Thursday for our annual day of baking. We made lots of cookies to share with the neighbors. We decided to try a new cookie this year...the melted snowman cookie. I saw the idea on-line and had to try it. Makayla graciously offered to decorate. She worked very diligently. When she was finished, I noticed that it looked a little like a snowman massacre...she got a little carried away with the red icing. :)

...for new traditions
Makayla and I went to the nail salon on Christmas Eve to get our nails painted. This was Makayla's first time. I was quite impressed by her choice in color (purple with glitter) and her behavior while we were there. She really seemed to enjoy herself. I think we have a new tradition in the making!

...for preparing for Santa

In preparation for Santa, we put out cookies (chocolate chip of course) and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Makayla started to question this year about how Santa would get into our house. We don't have a chimney, so we opted for the "magic key." She thought this was a great idea, and hung it on the tree outside so Santa would be able to let himself in. After we got everything ready, Makayla and Liam were allowed to open one gift...lots of new books! They enjoyed having some new books for bedtime.

...for celebration

Makayla and Liam took their time opening all of their gifts and were able to leisurely enjoy each gift. After our family Christmas, Seth's family came over for brunch and more gifts, and we headed to my parents' shortly after. Busy, busy, busy, but blessed day!

Liam loved his animal crackers from his stocking most of all...it was difficult to get him interested in much of anything else once he opened these. I also want to note the black shoes in his picture. These are the dress shoes I bought him for church. He hates to wear them! For whatever reason, he begged me to put them on for him on Christmas morning and would not take them off!

As for the shark gift....Darrell loves to creatively wrap my gift each year. This year it looked like a shark...turns out that is was...a shark pinata! Inside was my actual gift...a new pair of shoes. Fun stuff!
Much like Makayla's melting snowman, I am sad to see this season come to a close. I look forward to making more memories and starting new traditions in 2011!