Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming!
Of course we hope and pray that our girls caught a glimpse moreso this year than in prior years of why we celebrate Christmas, why it's such good news, and why because of Christmas morning we have hope for eternity! Far from perfect, but we made it our goal each day to attempt to center every conversation regarding Christmas to the manger. To talk about Jesus' birth in a way that showcased the glorious news of the Gospel! Because after all, had Jesus not come to earth to rescue sinners and redeem our lives, then we would be without hope and without the assurance that if we place our faith and hope in a risen Lord, we will have the amazing privilege to praise our Savior for eternity. Now THAT'S worth celebrating we told our girls...all year long!
We knew we would be out of town for a full week of Christmas tree enjoyment with our ski trip this year so we opted to get it a tad earlier than usual! The girls had a ball running through the tree lot and pointing out all the ones that were ridiculously huge that they wanted to be ours...we finally after much debate settled on one and it filled our home with much enjoyment! (even well into January, ha!)
And then it was time to pull out all the ornaments and lights and decorations and I had completely forgotten that this was truly the first year that our twins could really enjoy all the excitement of decorating a Christmas tree! Last year, we were cooped up in our two bedroom apartment with three kids sporting our Charlie Brown Christmas tree and the years before that they were just babies! So...they wanted to help with EVERYTHING. And I mean everything! They were right by daddy's side through it all...=) Sweet, sweet!
They didn't fully understand the point of testing out all the lights, but every dad can attest to the fact that that quite possibly is the most important task to do before decorating begins...it was simply moving a tad too slow for their liking! =) They sure did enjoy setting up the little nativity sets though!
Drinking a little hot chocolate kept their spirits up...and kept them up late that night too!!
Night complete! Up next: decorating the tree the following day! They loved, loved decorating one a little more their size that they later found out would be residing in their very own room!!
Believe it or not, we survived the entire Christmas season with only three ornament causalities and well to be honest I'm shocked! Especially with this cutie pie pulling them off whenever they caught her eye...
Once the tree was up and decorated and the outside was twinkling in lights, we kicked off the most wonderful time of the year by baking Christmas cookies! I'm not sure if they helped really other than to take some extra cookie dough off my hands...=) I love precious little hands helping me dump and stir and mix!
And since my girls are avid lovers of reading books and seriously could sit in my lap for as long as I would let them, we decided to open up a new Christmas book each morning and read it right after breakfast! They loved this!!
We try to squeeze in as many Christmas memories as our sweet little town of Auburn has to offer so off we headed to Monkey Park on a Friday night to meet up with some friends and enjoy a train ride through Santa's workshop! The wait was long, but the girls had a blast and loved every minute of it!
Then came the dreaded time to attempt a few Christmas card pics...surprisingly they turned out amazingly well considering how quickly we were able to capture the three girls! Mommy may or may not have lost all dignity in the process of getting them to smile. =)
And our family loves going to Cracker Barrel anytime of year but Christmas? SO MUCH FUN! The girls love the gift shop, the food, and the whole experience and Christmas time makes it that much more enjoyable!
Not wanting to miss a single memory available, we headed out one afternoon after naps to the Auburn Conference Center to see the Gingerbread Village! So, so neat!! The architecture department creates a little village of Auburn completely made out of gingerbread. It was quite impressive to say the least! and thankfully we made it out without any damage!
And then of course there's the obligatory trips to the mall just for traditions' sake...and Ashton Kate screamed her head off both times she was forced to sit in his lap.
The twins had their first "performance" at CBS as they sang their songs they've learned at CBS. Boy are we so thankful for all that they have learned there and the foundation they continue to help lay in their hearts! It was hysterical watching the roles reverse and seeing our "shy" little girl sing ALL the words and do ALL the motions and our "spunky, wild" one stand like a statue looking petrified. It was so precious though seeing Maddie Grace's beaming eyes as we clapped and gave her our excited approval! She loved every ounce of affirmation...note taken! And the best part?! Daddy surprised the girls during his busiest week of the year and was there to love and support them!
We grabbed a quick lunch to celebrate the occasion at MK's Asian Kitchen and then it was back to work for daddy! So thankful he made the sacrifice to be there!
And then we squeezed in one more festive thing before heading out on our ski trip! We headed downtown to watch the Christmas parade makes its way through town. Not gonna lie-it was freezing and we waited a LONG time before it finally headed our way! The highlight was seeing Santa on top of the firetruck! The kids seemed to enjoy though and of course that's our main reason for going, right?! Afterwards, we took our wild crew to Chick-Fil-A for family night and pictures with Santa! Take 2 for Ashton Kate and still not a fan!
Then on Saturday morning, we boarded a plane to head west...Go ahead and call us crazy! We know it! =) But we love every almost every minute of the adventure along the way!
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