Christmas and Snow..very belated

We got our Christmas tree at the Farmer's Market this year (and last year too apparently.. Stephen and the girls went alone while I was migraining last year). We went nice and early and completely forgot our camera. After we chose the perfect tree with the perfect little round "tree belly" we wandered the rest of the market. The girls got candy canes and every turn. "Can they have a candy cane? Are they twins?!" They have never had one before and I think they ate at least 3 a piece. Once we got home the girls caught my excitement and started squealing almost as loud as I was exclaiming about how much they LOVED our tree. The tree got quite a few hugs in the process.










Decorating with two 2 year olds is no easy feat.. but it sure is fun :) Most of our ornaments are not fragile so they were able to do lots of helping. Nonetheless.. most of the ornaments have migrated to the upper half of the tree by now. They enjoy moving them around or adding them to their doll house.. Mommy doesn't enjoy having to find them and rescue them back to the tree.

We have been doing Advent too this year. I got some nice kitschy 99 cent advent calendars from Trader Joe's. We do it right after breakfast each morning. Yes, I know ... how could I let my kids eat cheap chocolate first thing in the morning. Well for one simple reason - it is super duper fun. They not only get excited about opening their "door" for the day and munching their little treat, but they have been (surprisingly) excited about reading the verse for the day too. They listen very carefully (while licking/chewing their candy) and then shout out things like "I wuv baby Jesus Mommy!" or "Baby Jesus had a mommy!!!" or "Mary is Baby Jesus' mommy!!" or "My God is Mighty God!! BIIIIIIIIGGGG GOOOOOOODDDD!!" (We have been doing Isaiah 9:6 at V21 the last few weeks so they have been repeating the names for God listed there "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"). I was afraid that it would just be a fight every morning since they are only allowed to open one door each morning but I have been pleasantly surprised at their self control. I explained very carefully the first morning before we even opened the door that would get to open one and only one each morning, and they haven't put up a fight about it at all. That seems to be the key with my girls - preparation. As long as explain what is about to happen or what is expected of them in details that they can understand before it all goes down, they seem to have very little problem following directions. The advent calendar has been a great learning tool for us in more ways than one.











Last but not least, as if our day of Christmas tree shopping and decorating could have been any more sweet... we had our first snow of the season while the girls were down for nap. They were really only interested in licking it off the leaves but still.. it was a nice way to end the day.