We spent this afternoon frosting and decorating our Christmas cookies. I made a batch of cinnamon buttercream, and the girls each got to pick a color to complement the white (Ellie chose red and Elaina chose green). Josh contributed his artistic flair, too, and helped the girls at the table while I worked on cookies at the island. The cookies were a tasty and beautiful hit!
Monday, December 18
The girls have been on something of a game kick lately, so tonight after supper we played a few rousing rounds of Zingo. Their enthusiasm for shouting out the pieces on their cards was quite amusing. Elaina took to shouting out whatever pieces showed up, regardless of whether or not they were actually on her card. After losing some significant hearing in my right ear, I told her if she did it again, I was taking a piece off her card. This seemed to magically improve her ability to shout out only when there was a piece she could use.
Tuesday, December 19
A couple of exciting happenings for the girls today. Their school is having "Winter Spirit Week", I'm assuming because, unlike many schools in the area, they are in session through Friday. Today was Pajama Day, and nothing seems to excite them more than the opportunity to wear jammies to school. Then, during dinner, Elysia's loose tooth was bothering her. She gave it a quick tug, and out it came!
Josh and I treated ourselves to breakfast out after dropping the girls off at the bus stop, and the clouds were lovely for our drive. We ran several errands and came home with time to do a little relaxing before the girls got home. After they had a snack, we walked over to Hans and Jo's with some of our cookies, and thankfully timed the visit well as they were leaving for an extended visit with family a day or so later. We love Hans and Jo. They are so good to us and our girls. We had a nice visit an the girls opened their Christmas present with much delight. On our way home, the same clouds we'd enjoyed in the morning were now bright pink. Very lovely, indeed.
Thursday, December 21
The sunrise was brilliant this morning, and Josh was sweet enough to go outside and take some pictures for me. For school, the girls got all bundled up for "Winter Wear Day" in their mittens and hats. We had a busy day of errands and wrapping, but it sure was nice to be out of the office.
A busy day of wrapping, preparing, and, unfortunately for Josh, a last minute trip to get a gift we bought but apparently came home without. On the bright side, I was able to finish up nearly all the wrapping I had left to do--just a few items for the next day, and I was officially done before Christmas Eve!
Saturday, December 23
One more busy day before our Christmas festivities commenced. We went to Pearce in the morning, and in the afternoon I worked on various baking projects (from-scratch banana cream pie, from-scratch black-raspberry pie, and roasted spiced nuts). Meanwhile, Josh and the girls created a gingerbread house masterpiece from the kit Hans and Jo had gifted them.
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| Christmas wouldn't be complete without a festive hat for Yuna to despise! |
