An Adorable Christmas

After the decorating was done, we started the rest of our Christmas festivities with Rachael's preschool Christmas concert.  As you can see, she got a little case of stage fright!  She was quickly rescued by her teacher and thankfully her tears dried up!  She stayed in her teacher's lap for the rest of the concert, and afterwards was just fine and dandy! 

The very next day, the kindergarten classes at Gracie's school had their Christmas concert, and each class had their own song to sing.  Gracie's group sang "Santa Bingo" -- that's Gracie proudly holding up the second 'A'.  If you aren't familiar with this tune, think B-I-N-G-O, only with S-A-N-T-A.  There was a man with a long white beard, and Santa was his name-o!  All of the music was very cute!

Daddy got to come home early on Christmas Eve, and not long after he got in we had a visit from Papa.  Later, after the church services were over, we spent the rest of Christmas Eve with Chris' parents, and Christmas morning we got to experience the joy of the girls waking up and making their run to the tree to see what Santa brought!  (My favorite part was after all the gifts had been opened, Rachael pulled out a tub of blocks that they've had forever and started playing with them!)  After that, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a delicious Christmas dinner, made it home for naptime, and then had a visit from Nana and Grandpa Ken!

This was the first year we actually really did Santa with the girls (even Grace), so we're still learning!  Santa forgot batteries for the little Dirt Devil that Rachael got, and Grace is wondering how I'm going to be able to go to Target and exchange the princess tent that Santa brought them... What can I say?  I'm a novice!

We have been blessed every year as a family, but this year did feel a little extra special as we celebrated in our home! 

We hope you enjoyed your Christmas, especially those of you who were able to have a white one!! 

The Christmas Spirit

Nothing can scare the Grinch out of you faster than preschoolers singing Christmas songs! We were treated to it twice in one week.

Here's Grace as we went on our way to her VPK Christmas program last week. Each of the VPK classes sang three songs, and in between each one they "skated" around the sanctuary. Grace skated, smiled, and sang. And for those of you that encountered the Rachael of Thanksgiving Week, I know you will be shocked to hear that she sat through the entire performance without a whimper!! It was wonderful! The only time she made noise was to shout out to her big sister! So sweet!

Then this past Sunday, the children's choirs at church had their concert. I actually have video of that, and I may try to upload it. Grace sang her heart out, every word was clearly enunciated. Many thanks go to Miss Shannon for bringing about this change!

Here are Grace and Faith before the concert. It doesn't get any cuter than this:

Rachael was in the nursery during the performance, but afterwards she came out to visit with Grace and her friends. She was fascinated by one of the trees in the church, and had to touch almost every ornament within her reach -- she was covered in glitter when she was done!

And this picture is to produce evidence of Rachael being Daddy's Little Girl. Like Chris, she doesn't seem to get cold very easily. It was VERY cold Sunday night, and as soon as she got outside she took her little jacket off!

Hope your holiday season has begun well!