Merry Christmas!

Christmas started early this morning for us, as it does for any family with young kids (right?). It was still dark out when the kids came down to open their stockings and presents from Santa.

The girls have been excited for Christmas for months and even BabySlimJim picked up on the excitement (sort of).

It was all we could do to hold them off from opening their presents from us until after breakfast.

And then we spent the day playing with the new toys and getting Christmas dinner ready.

After dinner we smashed a peppermint pig. A Saratoga tradition we might have to add to our Christmas every year. No one really wanted to eat the pieces for good luck, but it was really fun to smash it with the tiny hammer!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

The girls were super excited to get dressed up to go to church for the Christmas Eve service. MiniM.E. was in the pageant again this year and LittleL.G. was excited to watch.

BabySlimJim and LittleL.G. were very patient as we sat through the first half of the service.

BabySlimJim even joined MiniM.E. up front for the childrens' message.

The pageant was definitely the highlight of the evening!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Winter Dance Recital

LittleL.G.'s winter dance recital was yesterday. She's been so excited to dance on the stage since her last recital, even though she usually says she doesn't want to go to dance class.

We got there early to wait in line for the doors to open so we could sit up front.

BabySlimJim was a bit under the weather so Daddy came to pick him up and take him home (we met out later for dinner). He wouldn't have wanted to sit through a dance recital anyway.

It was adorable, as always.

Getting Ready...

We have been trying to keep up with the Christmas preparations... though it is such a crazy time of year! Add on a 8 months pregnant, very tired Mommy, and a destructive 18 month old, and our Christmas season definitely looks a bit different this year.

The girls are being great about not doing everything we usually do: our tree only has lights and garland, there is no book advent calendar this year, we didn't put up all the decorations... Last year we took the whole month of December off from school to do "Christmas School" but I know we'll need a few weeks break in January when the baby comes, so we are still chugging along with our regular subjects. And we still have all the normal stuff to do... like doctor's appointments.

We are trying hard to do festive activities... we made gingerbread houses, we made cookies and had friends over to decorate,

we're taking a holiday music class, we hosted two Christmas parties last weekend, we've been trying to play outside,

the girls took Christmas pictures with their dolls,

and even though it isn't quite as over-the-top Christmas around here as usual, the kids seem excited. Hard to believe there's only one more week to go!

Birthday Party Weekend

This weekend was a weekend of birthday parties! We know a lot of kids with December birthdays!

Some highlights were our Saturday party with the Balloon Lady who made epic unicorns:

And being served at a tea party on Sunday.

Victorian Stroll and Tree Lighting at Gavin Park

Thursday was the annual Victorian Stroll downtown. We typically end up going, and it never really lives up to the expectation. This year we were in time for the Santa parade and free donuts, and we met up with friends, so that made it fun. Clearly the best part of the evening for the kids was riding the carousel.

Last year we stumbled upon Gavin Park's Tree Lighting Ceremony. Even though "tree lighting" didn't sound super exciting, it turned out to be one of the best Christmas activities of the season. You can read about it here.

MiniM.E. has been excited to go all week, even though she knows she won't be the one to flip the switch this year.

It was a little chillier than last year, so waiting for the lights to come on and Santa to arrive was a bit uncomfortable... 

 

But it doesn't get much better than Santa coming on a fire truck.

After his arrival, we went in for lots of refreshments, Christmas movies, coloring, and of course, a visit with Santa for our only child that isn't terrified of him.