With Thanksgiving over, we were now looking forward to Christmas and seeing family. We continued in our tradition of decorating the tree the day after Thanksgiving. The girls enjoy helping with the lights, ornaments and ribbon. We've had our tree for 6 years now and I think that was the last time it was going up. I'm not sure if the plan is to get a real tree for 2018, but I wouldn't opposed to it. Our home has higher ceilings, so I'm rooting for a 9 foot pre-lit tree. Our little 6 footer just looked out of place in our living room.
The girls and I had a mommy daughter date to see CoCo. I cannot rave enough about that movie. It brought me back to my time in Mexico visiting my grandma when I was a child. I loved the movies focus on family history work and the love for family. The girls really enjoyed it and with the end scene, I looked over at Arizona and she said- "I'm crying mom. This is so sad." They couldn't stop talking about it with Daniel when they got home and begged him to see it too.
A rare yet sweet moment with Adeline. She was not feeling well one day and just needed some extra snuggles.
Our Stake puts on a beautiful nativity every year in December. So many people bring in a nativity and trees to put on display. I could have spent hours in there looking in every nook and craney. This was my first time going and I'm not really sure why I never went before. All of the displays were intricate and so well thought out. It amazing the talent and vision people have to set something up as grand like this. Some of our favorites were the food nativities, the Lego Star wars set, and the ones from around the world. They also have a full line-up of people performing every hour and a real life Mary and Joseph watching over baby Jesus. (no real babies were used)
Another tooth bites the dust. The excitement on her face and that big gap are just the cutest.
We went to Grapevine to see the lights and were excited to see a carousel and a tribute collection of art from the Charlie Brown comics. The also got a glimpse of Santa and waved at him. It cracked me up when we would see Santa in different places around town, and Arizona would comment on how that particular Santa wasn't the real deal. "Oh, mom, that's not Santa, he doesn't have a real beard." These kiddos DO notice.
Meeting Santa at the library. Is it bad that I love a good crying baby sitting on Santa's lap photo?
Building our first gingerbread house. It was a failure on our part, but we did enjoy the experience and next year I plan on buying one already pre-built.
Oh you know, the Mom life.
Our ward planned a Christmas party with the main focus on a Charlie Brown play. Many of the kids in our ward participated in the play and Arizona wanted to be involved. She didn't have any lines but had to stand there in her cute sheep costume and dance when the music played. Like I said- it wasn't anything major but she couldn't stop talking about how much she loved it and that she wanted to do it again. I'm not going to lie- I had tears in my eyes watching her.
Meeting Santa. He passed the "real" test.
Arizona at her class Christmas party.
It was time for a change. Lucky for us, her aunt Cherie cuts hair, so when we made the trip to Jacksonville for Christmas, we sat her in a chair and chopped it off. I couldn't bring myself to have it cut shorter, but I think it turned out really cute and she likes it and that's all that matters.
Christmas gifts galore. These cute cousins, Rebekah, Quinn and Arizona became unicorns for the night. I don't think I saw much of my big girls the week we were there. Lots of cousins mean lots of fun playdates and ignoring mom and dad, and bedtime. Nothing is more important than creating memories with cousins.
Cherie is the best sister in law anyone could ever ask for. We did a lot of shopping together, and I found these cute Christmas leggings that just so happened to be the same ones she owns. Matchy Matchy. The bad news of the whole trip was that Adeline got the flu on Christmas Day. I think I slept a total of 2 hours that night. The next morning Brielle was not doing so hot either and so we set out for home. I thought it would be easier to leave that morning with the hope that Adeline would sleep most of the way because of her sickness. It turns out that she slept at most 2 hours and I was completely exhausted from going to the back seat to calm her down and then the passenger seat to catch a break. I really thought we would never get home. After 12 hours of driving, we pull in and I am more than happy to get the girls and myself in bed. After feeling like I had made the wrong decision for leaving early from Jacksonville, I woke up at 1 a.m. shivering uncontrollably. I had the flu. It was the worst feeling and I was out for the next three days. I've never felt that exhausted in my life and thankfully, Daniel had taken that week off. I must have gotten it once the flu virus started taking off, because weeks later, the news reporting a major outbreak of the flu. The flu is no joke.
We did get the girls bigger presents to open when we returned home. Brielle got a balance bike (which she doesn't use much...insert sad face emoji). Arizona got a ukele and Adeline a rocking chair.
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