As soon as the sunset Thanksgiving night the hustle and bustle of Christmas began. Lillian took writing a letter to Santa very seriously and even included a paragraph explaining why Freya couldn't write a letter. Lillian kindly gave Santa some suggestions as to what he could bring Freya, "some chocolate and a muffin." She knows her sister likes to eat!
I am not big into shopping mall Santas. They aren't the real deal so why bother? The girls got lucky though. Santa showed up to the Ronald McDonald walk we did with the Tucson Fire Department. Lillian was thrilled! She promptly told him everything on her list.
Decorating the Christmas tree gets more and more fun each year. Lillian is starting to recognize the ornaments and wants to hear the story behind each one.
Freya is so inquisitive I was worried she would take all the ornaments off the tree. I was pleasantly surprised when she contented herself just gazing at it in awe. In the evening, when I would turn the lights on, she would run over, point, and say,"LIGHTS!"
One evening the girls and I went over to my grandma and aunt's house to make pizzelles and let the kids decorate Christmas cookies. Traditionally, pizzelles are an Italian wedding cookie. However, my family has been making them at Christmas for as long as I can remember. They are precious and in high demand! You have to cook each cookie individually at the stove on an iron. My grandma has an electric iron but I still like to use my stove top one. There is just something about standing next to the hot stove, talking and laughing, that makes the cookies taste so much better.
It was ambitious of us to think we could make pizzelles and have the kids decorate cookies. They had a lot of fun but it was a bit stressful. I think next year we will break it in to two days!
This year, Josh and I decided to start a new tradition with our girls. Every Christmas, the Fire Fighter Union uses the money made at the annual Chili Cook-off to buy Christmas gifts for needy families in Tucson. We joined many other fire fighter families wrapping all the gifts the union purchased. It was a humbling, heart warming, fun experience.
Another tradition we continued with this Christmas was visiting Winterhaven. This year was one of the best years in memory. The girls enjoyed our walk through the neighborhood and oohed and aahed at all the magical lights.
One of the most fun Christmas memories we made this year was decorating a gingerbread house with Papa and Grandma Jean. I hope we can make this a new Christmas tradition as well. More candy was eaten than put on the house but everyone survived.
Christmas Eve, just as I was beginning to make dinner, the power went out in our neighborhood. Thankfully we have a gas stove so I was able to finish dinner by candle light. What at first seemed like a big inconvenience ended up making the night even more special. We cooked, ate, and cleaned up dinner by candlelight and were a little disappointed when the lights came on just in time to open presents with Papa and Grandma Jean.
Santa, his elves, and his reindeer all got a snack to help them power through the long night. Freya had a difficult time not sneaking a few nibbles.
Christmas morning Lillian burst into our room, "Mom! Dad! You have to come see this!" Her little face was as bright as the sun! Santa brought roller skates, My Little Ponies, Breyer horses, books, and a ramp for all Lillian's cars!
In our neighborhood, Rural Metro Fire Department drives down all the streets and passes out candy. It is a fun tradition the neighborhood looks forward to each year. Children and adults came pouring out of every house in their pajamas to see the fire fighters. It made me feel even more gratitude for the community in which I live.
Christmas night we went over to visit my grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins. The kids had a great time chasing chickens and playing with all their new loot.
Now that my mom, sister, and step-dad live far away, Christmas is kind of a difficult time of year for me. I miss them and all the things we like to do together. This is the first year I actually had an enjoyable Christmas season without them. I am not sure if that is because I knew we would be seeing them soon or because we were so busy. Either way it was nice to not go through the month with a heavy heart.
When Christmas was over and we were able to head up to see my family, everyone was ecstatic! Josh and I spent our ninth wedding anniversary driving 14 hours through the night. Getting to see my loved ones was a wonderful anniversary gift! The girls played in the snow as soon as we got there.
Our visit was made even more fun because my aunt and her family drove up just behind us! New Years Eve these kiddos had a blast playing games, sneaking treats, and reeking havoc!
Since our trip up north spilled in to January, I will post more about it when I write up January's adventures. In the mean time, here are a few more photos from our adventures in December that took place in between all the Christmas fun.
As usual, we spent a good deal of time at the barn with our horses, even in the rain. Lillian is becoming quite the little horse woman. Freya enjoys her time at the barn as well. She prefers to lead the horses more than ride them but that is fine with me.
We also spent a great deal of time enjoying the perfect weather. Not too cold, not too hot, just right EVERY DAY!
One day we took advantage of some Arizona snow that the city of Marana made. Freya wasn't so sure about it at first but she warmed up pretty quickly.
As a group of girls who love books, we can frequently be found at the library. We enjoy going to story time, hearing new books, singing, dancing, and doing crafts. One day Princess Anna joined us for story time. Lillian was in heaven. I don't think any of the other kids got a chance to talk to her because Lillian hogged her the entire time!
The day after Christmas, Freya Lynn hit the 18 month mark. She is an itty bitty thing, just 20 pounds and 30 inches tall. She loves food, is soft spoken, determined, and she gets in to everything! She has a short attention span so getting her to listen to a whole story, sit and color, or paint is a difficult task.
She is so soft spoken and tiny people are often surprised when she starts jibber jabbering and can actually talk! As of December 26, 2015 Freya could say the following words and phrases: Up please, all gone, bite, bike, ball, baby, baba, Gigi, Emer, Dada, Mama, Papa, light, moon, key, wawa (water), side (outside), flower, candy, apple, pop (Popsicle), book, lala (softie), out, hi, bye, cookie, spider, money, bee, ow, gogol (drink).
She is as smart as a whip and only does what she wants to do when she wants to do it. She walks on her tippy toes and takes her time. Getting her to cooperate for pictures is like pulling teeth. To get these photos done we had a dancing talking poodle and a one pound bag of M & Ms. I am not kidding!
Thankfully, I have a talented and patient sister who snaps away while my mom and I try to get both girls in the right spot, at the right time, looking the right way.
Getting these girls to fly right is sometimes like wrestling wild pigs but it is SO MUCH FUN!
2016 HERE WE COME!
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