Merry Christmas!

 Pure. Christmas. Joy.

Aside from the endless George the elf mischief that needed cleaning up each morning, it really seemed like this Christmas season flew by.  Before we knew it the big day was here and the presents that had just been wrapped and put under the tree (hiding the very sad and anemic base of our artificial tree) were unwrapped in a frenzy (exposing, yet again, that sad looking, skinny trunk).  But, honestly, I'm not sure how much more Christmas anticipation these kids could have handled.  Natalie told me about mid-month she was so excited for Christmas that she just couldn't eat or sleep.  They would ask every day, "now, how many days until Santa comes?" And as we got closer and closer it was, "now, tell me again, does Santa come this night or the next night?", "how many sleeps do we have until Santa comes?", "does Santa ever surprise people and come early?" The best was when Natalie, December calendar in hand, said, "Has this really only been ONE day?  I can't believe it's not time to cross off another day on my calendar yet!!  I wish bedtime would just get here so it could be tomorrow!"  So funny.

Christmas Day was super fun...a busy morning of opening presents, eating cinnamon rolls and playing with our new pet gecko (Natalie's big present), Zipper.  Papa Rod and Grandma Lala arrived mid-day and the party started all over again.  We were so excited to see them and show them all the work we've done on the house since their last visit during the summer.  They stayed in a nearby hotel and the highlight of the girls' days after Christmas was going there for breakfast to see the sparkly lobby Christmas trees and eat pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse. 

We all headed into the city the day after Christmas (which was exactly the madhouse you'd picture it being) and then explored downtown Walnut Creek the next day.  A super fun way to end the week.  Over the weekend, Mom, the girls and I headed over the hill to visit GGPa and GGMa in Reno. The girls loved playing in the small patches of icy snow left over from the last storm and sitting by the fireplace to warm up!  They also loved all the Christmas decorations GGMa had out and could have probably stayed another week just exploring (and touching) it all! A really nice way to end the year!

Mostly, I was just thankful we were all (relatively) healthy for the holiday this year!   It was a really great Christmas.

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

so, consequently, I never had a chance to blog about it! 
Mercy. 
What can I say? 
Creating Christmas while maintaining regular life takes all remaining spare time and energy.  And we were sick for the first half of the month, so that didn't help.  But enough excuses!  Let's get back to Christmas...

Our tree went up and took center stage in our furniture-sparse living room.  It fills the room so nicely I don't think it's coming down until Easter!  The girls had so much fun decorating it, re-decorating it,  reading, playing and watching videos under it, and even sleeping beside it one night (Audrey lasted 12 minutes and Natalie made it until about 2am before realizing their real beds are way more comfortable than a sleeping bag on a cold floor!). It really is too bad the tree is only up for a month each year.  It makes such a lovely lamp!

 Audrey does have jammies that actually fit her. 

She just chooses to wear ones that are two sizes too small.

We also had a great time baking this year...only Spritz cookies and gingerbread girls, which was more than enough!  It seems like we've been eating cookies every day all month long. 

 

And our resident elf, George, returned this year and created all sorts of mischief each night.  He got into the chocolate in the pantry, the candy canes on the counter, rearranged Nativity sets, spelled out holiday greetings on the kitchen table in mini marshmallows and Cheerios, made "snow elfs" in spilled sugar and even toilet papered the tree.  Yes, I was not too sad to see George leave on Christmas Eve this year...but the girls were crushed.  Natalie actually cried on Christmas Day because she missed him so much.  Good grief.

That's George wrapped up in the empty toilet paper roll. 

Errrgh...

Overall, just a great season.  The girls are such fun ages for all the Christmas magic.  I'll post actual Christmas photos soon.  I promise.

Viking of the Week

Natalie is the star of the week in first grade this week.  Or as it's properly referred to at her school, Viking of the Week.  Which is kind of hilarious because you don't really associate Vikings with star-like behavior or celebrations!  But, nonetheless, our little Viking has been looking forward to this since the master Viking of the Week Calendar came out on parent orientation night.  She got to make a poster filled with pictures of all the people (and kitty), places and things she loves and present it at school using a microphone.  Her teacher commented that she was exceptionally articulate speaking to a group and very comfortable using a microphone.  No surprise there. 

Each day she gets to bring 3 special things to share with the class to help them get to know her better.  She's going through a wardrobe phase right now where she only wants to wear tutus to school.  She only has about two tutus (possibly a third if you count the skirt that has a few tutu-like qualities) so she alternates shirts and leggings around these tutus.  Hilarious. But while her wardrobe screams girly girl, her special items to share have ranged from books she's written and illustrated to shells and rocks and turtle shells she's found to crystals and geodes she treasures to her new alarm clock.  I love that even though she wants to look like a princess every day, her interests are all over the map!