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Christmas is officially behind us.  Does anyone else feel like we bust our butts getting ready for it for months and its over in a flash? Phew – what a whirlwind!

Christmas Eve we went to church and of course, during the candlelit ‘Silent Night’ one of the girls got burned by dripping wax….without fail!  You would think that we’d learn!  But it is still one of my favourite things about the service….so peaceful and beautiful, all the voices raised in song.  After church, Mom and Dad always stop by for awhile, watch the girls open their gift of new jammies and a movie.  This year they also got Peppermint Hot Chocolate…tasty!  The movie this year was Shaun the Sheep – I still haven’t seen it, although the girls did start watching it one day over the break.

When we tucked the girls in, we informed them we didn’t want to see them before 7am….which, of course, didn’t work.  We were opening gifts by 6:45….but I confess I was pretty excited to see if the girls were pleased with their gifts.  It’s always a gamble to see if ‘Santa’ did okay from their letters.  One girl was very detailed and the other very vague this year….which made things interesting, to say the least!  I do think Santa managed to pull it off again this year, though!

I love asking the girls at the end of the day which of their gifts was their favourite.  Lena wouldn’t tell me what her fav was, I think for fear of hurting my feelings…my guess it was the giant horse picture Catherine gave her for her room and not a gift we gave her.  Hannah…well….she loved quite a few but I think the Chocolate Lab toy was her top pick!

Lego is always a winner, too.  Both girls got some this year, too, plus they had a Lego Advent calendar to share.  So, you know what that means…picking up tiny pieces off the floor for a month!  { I also got to spend some time building Lego with Catherine’s son, Aleko, the other day….so much fun!  It was a great set of Minecraft Lego that had lots of different ways you can build it and two booklets of instructions! }

We had Christmas Dinner at the in-laws and then, since the weather was so incredible { 15 degrees in December!! } we headed down to the beach for a walk and then over to the horse pasture next door.  The girls love the horses and so enjoy going over for a visit, feeding them apples and grass and reaching for a pat.

On our way home late in the afternoon, we stopped by my parents for a little visit and more food.  Then we took the girls home to play with their new goodies for a bit before tucking them back into bed to do it all again the next day with my family!

Again, Boxing Day dawned a gorgeous day for December and we enjoyed it around Mom and Dad’s table.  The highlight this year was the guessing game we had to do for our chocolate letters as Mom couldn’t get all the right letters for us.  My letter was an ‘M’ and was labelled with “Meadowville’s Maker of Many Masterpieces”….you know, makes complete sense when you put it that way 😉  The kids enjoyed acting out the Christmas Story again, too….no real babies in the manger this year, though…my littles have long since outgrown that, so we had Hannah the sheep and Lena the angel this time around.

I hope you all enjoyed the company of those you love this Christmas Season. It is always so busy but so much fun!!

To be continued,

Lori

Part of our family’s tree tradition is going to a tree lot in the woods somewhere and finding our most perfect tree, lugging it home and then putting it up.  I love that this is a tradition we share with so many other families and I love seeing pictures of families together with rosy cheeks, standing in front of the hand selected tree that is just right for them! { I love this picture of Michael and the girls giggling in front of our tree! No idea what was said…..but it must’ve been good! }

Every year we search out our tree with a few requirements.  It needs to the not too tall and not too round.  Tallish and slender….and every year I think we find the most perfect tree ever!  And this year is no exception!  One of the benefits of cutting your own tree from the tree lot is that you know it’s fresh!  Granted, it is still bound to shed a few needles on the floor….

This year I wanted to be more deliberate in how I decorated our tree.  Usually, we dig out the ornaments from previous years and I let the girls go at it.  But not this year.  This year it’s my tree.  And I am so drawn to the Nordic style and I wanted my tree to reflect that.  I’ve been hunting down red and white ornaments, some wooden ones and some silver.  I’ve made a few to tuck in, as well, plus I figured I’d have a few from previous years that would work with this year’s plan.

It’s exciting to hunt for a new look!!  I had so much fun gathering the new ornaments together!  Wanna see how the tree turned out??

Here’s a close up of the gnome my friend, Alena, made for me!  How sweet is he!?!??!

And then a few other favourites:

These last ones look very impressive and complicated to make, but I had fun making them one evening with some doubled sided scrap book paper.  Maybe I should do a tutorial?

I hope your tree is up and all trimmed out in it’s finery!  The fun thing about decorating is the walk down memory lane when you start rooting through the boxes!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!  May you find peace at the side of the old, wooden manger that holds a wee baby who is our Emmanuel!

To be continued,

Lori

Well, just a few more days until Christmas!  Our home has been a flurry of activity, like most households these days I’m sure!  I thought I’d share a few pictures of scenes from around our home over the past few weeks.

One event that the girls looked forward to was the Gingerbread House Decorating that the local United Way puts on as a fundraiser.  We took Sammy and Gabby with us this time and once again we ate too much candy and spilled way too much hot chocolate.  We had a great time, and come home with gingerbread houses, laden with candy!

The girls had their school concert, too.  Hannah was so excited and nervous at the same time and it was old hat for Lena.  They looked so beautiful, in their cream dresses and pretty shoes!  Both sets of grandparents were able to come, along with Jeannie, the girls’ former baby sitter. They sang and danced and just glowed on the stage.  And once it was all over, they crashed!

We went to a different tree lot this year than we’ve gone to the last few.  The trees all looked so good, but we narrowed it down to two and debated the characteristics of each.  Once the decision was made, Micheal chopped it down and he drug it to the truck.  The girls each picked out a small tree to take home, too, it was adorable to see them carefully select a tiny tree to carry out!

Once they got them home, they worked with Michael to figure out a tree stand for their little trees.  It’s neat to watch them go back and forth, trying to explain to him how they want it done and him try to explain to them how he was really going to make a stand.

I did a little baking, some wrapping and the tree is all decorated.  We’ve caroled, eaten, and celebrated together with our community.  There’s more planned and we still have all the celebrations to come with our families.

How are all your plans coming along?  Are you all ready for Christmas? What’s left on your To-Do list?

I’m looking forward to sharing the finished product of our trees, a tasty new recipe and my new cabinet vignette over the next few days!

To be continued,

Lori