The month of December gets busier every year and seems to pass more and more quickly the older I get. I'm sure it has to do with the phase of life we are in. We frequently have to take a step back, sit together as a family, and reflect on the true meaning of why we celebrate this season. Amidst all of the fun Christmas activities I love our special time in the evenings when we light the candles and read through our advent book as a family. It's not always calm/peaceful by any means but the kids enjoy it as much as we do and especially love turning the pages, opening the doors, and blowing out the candles at the end!
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I started out the month baking Christmas cookies with my sister-in-law, something we do every year. I can't even count the amount of cookies we bake... seems like a couple hundred. Our traditional sugar, egg nog, spritz, and peanut butter with peanut butter cup inside cookies get better every year. And we get more and more efficient. It's quite a site watching both our mixers going! The kids go with Sam to spend the day with their uncle and cousins and love every bit too. This year Lauren and her older cousin Trevor spent a special afternoon with Sam's parents going to see Mary Poppins at the Paramount Theatre. Lauren loved this as she just started getting into the film! They then spent the night over at Sam's parents while we enjoyed going downtown for a Christmas party his team leader hosted at a special restaurant. I really enjoyed meeting some of his coworkers he always talks about!
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| Spritz! |
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| Sugar! |
As a family we also attended Sam's company Christmas party again this year and had a blast. It's so focused on the kids and this year was a Frozen theme. They had character meet and greets, they played the sing along film and it was so cute watching all the kids sing and dance to the songs. After meeting Santa they each got their special present (legos) and we got ours (a Bowes entertainment system!). Dinner was great and the night was a hit! So special Sam's company invites so many families to celebrate together!
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| Face painter was amazing at the party! |
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| Lauren FREAKED out over the huge Olaf! Cant say I blame her! |
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| Watching the sing along |
Lauren was the angel in her school nativity play this year and did so great! She hardly wanted to practice her lines at home so I was a little nervous but she did wonderfully speaking so clearly! So proud of her! She also completed her park district ballet class as a sugar plum in the performance of the Nutcracker. The performance was so cute to watch and her class did great! Grammy and grandpa, nana and opa also came to support her. So special her grandparents both get to be a part of this!
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| Soooo cute! |
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| Our angel! Missed out on taking a pic of her in costume! Oops |
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| Nutcracker dress rehearsal (wouldn't let us take pics during the actual show) |
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| They did such a great job! |
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| Lauren with her nana & opa |
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| Lauren with her grammy and grandpa |
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| Proud of our little dancer! |
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| She got to do the class with her second cousins! |
We've been trying to help the kids understand the importance of giving this season. One of the ways we are doing that is delivering our baked cookies to others, picking out special presents for teachers and family, and frequently reflecting on the meaning of Christmas and reading/discussing the birth of our Lord and Savior. One day we packed up some cookies and delivered them to our local fire station. We were the only ones there and Lauren marched right in and was so excited to hand them our gift. They gave the kids a tour of the station, let them sit in the trucks and turn the lights on. The kids loved it and wanted to go home and get more cookies to deliver other places! As Lauren left she exclaimed "enjoy the cookies and you all are invited to my birthday party"! Oh boy!
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| Decorating cookies |
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| Very focused! |
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| Trip to firestation |
One of the other things we enjoy doing as a family this time of year is our cookie jammy rides. We went to Mooseheart to drive through a light display this year which was okay... I think we all still liked parking outside a neighborhood house to watch their incredible light show set to music best. The thrill of being in their jammies eating cookies in the car is so much fun for them!
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| Getting ready for our jammy ride! |
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