1. December 1 (Decorating the Christmas Tree/Putting Lights on the House/December 1 Dinner)--December 1, 2018 was a busy day at our home. We dove right into Christmas decorating with the purchase of our Christmas tree and putting lights on our house. Darren braved climbing on the roof of both stories of our home to put up the lights, and within a matter of hours our halls looked decked for the season. I think it filled us all with anticipation for the festive plans we had in the weeks ahead. We ended the night with our traditional December 1 dinner which included the introduction of our "giving manger", advent calendar, and new ornaments and Christmas pajamas from Nana and Papa.
Darren had a couple of special helpers while he put the lights on the house:
All of the decorating wore Claire out. She fell asleep like this while watching "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer":
The girls were proud of their new ornaments, tree, and Christmas pajamas!
2. Twins' PreSchool Christmas Program--The twins' PreSchool Christmas Program "Santa's Workshop" was one of the sweetest (and most impressive) things I have seen in a long time. I am still amazed the school could get that many 3 and 4 year olds to do anything resembling an organized program, but they did! It was also fun for me to watch how the twins responded to being on stage. I wondered if they would get stage fright or start to act "goofy" with all of the attention. Instead, they did neither of those things. They followed directions and sang well and showed a sweet amount of enthusiasm. It was wonderful!
Before heading to the program (with Claire showing off the Rudolph on her shirt):
Playing outside the library where the program was held:
Scenes from the program (taken from video):
3. Ward Christmas Party--Darren took the girls to our Ward Christmas party early one Saturday morning at a nearby neighborhood park. The girls had a pancake breakfast, played "football" with some boys in the ward, and got an early visit with Santa (Claire opted out of having her picture taken with Santa despite her excitement at seeing him).
4. Skateboarding with Dad--All three girls developed a new hobby in the month of December--skateboarding! This was all initiated by Darren, and I am so glad the girls have a Dad that introduces them to fun and challenging new things. I was impressed with the girls' balance and how natural they looked. They are a joy to watch.
The following pictures were taken from videos and, therefore, are not the best quality, but they were too cute not to include:
5. Santa Party--We hosted our 2nd annual Santa Party with neighbors on Friday, December 14. This was a tradition started by my parents when I was young. I LOVED them as a girl and have had fun seeing my girls enjoy them as well. All three of the girls helped me decorate "Rudolph" water bottles before the party and were brave enough to sit on Santa's lap when it came time to give out gifts. The girls received Disney dolls with matching rings from Santa (Jane got Pocahontas, Claire got Cinderella, and Paige got Merida). Upon opening her gift, Paige made the confused comment that she didn't remember asking Santa for a Merida doll. I had to smile when she reasoned that this was a different Santa from the one she had seen at the Ward Christmas party and, therefore, he must have gotten confused. I reassured her Santa knew what she wanted and that there would be more gifts coming Christmas morning. She seemed satisfied, and my heart grew another size.
This was as close as Claire would get to Santa ... until he brought her present out of his bag.
The whole group:
The girls with their dolls:
We are blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. These are some of the girls' favorites (our babysitter, Gabi, and her mom, Iarley, and our next-door neighbor, Emma):
Gabi and Claire:
6. Polar Express Day at PreSchool--One of the things I love about the twins' preschool is the effort that is made to do unnecessary but fun things for the kids. An example of this is the Polar Express Day the girls had on their last day of school before Christmas break. They were allowed to wear pajamas, sat in a cardboard train made by the school, and had chocolate milk and cookies. When school was over, they greeted me with big smiles and waving their "train tickets" in the air.
7. Gymnastics Performance--On the last day of gymnastics before the holiday break, I was surprised to find the coaches had organized a performance for the parents. The twins have come such a long way in their coordination and it was fun to see them master the balance beam and "seat-drops" and "open and close" jumps on the trampoline.
Paige and Jane posing with their gymnastics group:
8. Chris, Christy (and Nugget), Nana, and Papa Arrive--With all of the fun "Happy Now" moments I have listed up to this point in December, by far that most happy moment was when Nana, Papa, Chris, and Christy (pregnant with Nugget) arrived to our home. No amount of decorations, parties, or programs could make it feel as much like Christmas as having these people I love so much in my home for the holidays.
The whole group (minus Papa taking the photo) upon their arrival:
The day after Christmas making donations at the LDS Giving Machine in downtown Gilbert:
At the movie theater seeing Mary Poppins Returns:
9. Christmas Games--My family was here from December 23 to December 27, and we planned a few games while they were here. The night of December 23, we walked around our neighborhood, each armed with a bag of candy, and delivered the bags of sweets to the homes we thought had the best Christmas light displays. On Christmas Eve we had snowman bagels for breakfast, a performance of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with fun props provided by Nana, and a few winter-themed Minute to Win It games in the afternoon. I am grateful for such fun-loving (and easy-going) family.
10. Christmas--Then came the big day! The girls were all pretty good about taking turns opening presents and were grateful and gracious with the presents they received. It was a wonderful morning and day worthy of the month-long anticipation!
New vests:
Making cupcakes with their personalized aprons and stirring spoons:
Christmas morning scene as I explain that their last present is in garage (PonyCycles from Aunt Sue)!
