Preparing for the Holidays

Christmas. It's a season all of it's own in our house. It fits in between fall and winter. We did our annual Christmas decorating, but didn't go as "buck wild" as we have before.  Alex, Aiden and I successfully convinced Andy to put the tree up after Thanksgiving. We have always said that we would wait to do that until after Alex's birthday (December 4th), but this year was different. Thanksgiving was later than normal and we didn't have that long to keep it up.  I love sitting by the lit tree at night and reading a book.  There is just something so homey and peaceful about it.  

I took a personal day on Alex's birthday this year and later found out that New Prague Community Education was offering a field trip to Stages Theater to see the play, "Llama Llama: Holiday Drama".  Our daycare lady and friend, Sarah, offered to take all the kids from daycare and some of the mom's helped out.  It was so fun going with everyone, the kids were excited for the bus ride and the play.  Just as Minnesota luck would have it, it snowed that day.  The bus ended up a little late, but we weren't the last ones and we weren't late. Everyone enjoyed the performance, even Aiden.  Although he did need to get up and "stretch" a little towards the end.  After the play, we all went to a run to eat lunch.  Sarah packed special lunches, lunchables, for all the kids, too. They sure are lucky!

Daycare group: (L-R) Charlie, Alex, Matthew, Quin, Aiden, Grace and Carter

Another favorite holiday prepartion is making cookies.  The boys have started to be excellent helpers, too!  They love the excitement of preparing, baking, packing and delivering the cookies to special friends and family.  My favorite thing?  Now they are excellent helpers at unwrapping the candies.  I used to do this job as a kid, and am so happy they can do it now.  I can't believe how excited they are to be helping with something. We made cookies at home and at Grandma Johnson's house.

We were so excited this year that both Grandmas (Grandma Guse and Grandma Johnson) wanted to go with us to the Macy's 8th Floor exhibit and the last Holidazzle Parade.  It was quite a journey to get us downtown. We found the one day in December that worked for everyone, a Friday. After school, we went home quick where Grandma Guse met us.  We loaded in the van and met Andy at a parking lot in Bloomington and we all rode downtown together. We got there about the same time as every other year, but ended up in a long line this time. It wasn't bad though since the line went extremely fast.  I love the Macy's 8th floor exhibit. Yes, it has been the same exhibit for years now, but it is so magical and creative.  After walking through the exhibit, the boys each got a special gingerbread and milk treat before walking down to Nicollet Mall.  We found a cold spot on the corner to sit for the parade and parked.  The Grandmas went in on spoiling their grandsons and buying them the light up swords.  They were so excited and happy!  We stayed for most of the parade before heading out for dinner.  We ended up eating at Fudruckers in Edina before getting home for some much needed sleep.

See how big that smile is!?

The best Mom and Mother-In-Law!

Alex had his Sunday School program at Church on December 15. I love that they do the preschool and K-3 program before Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.  There is enough going on and it is way too busy at Church on the big day.  It's nice to have a slower paced day to enjoy the program.  Not being shy, Alex ran up to the front of our huge Church and was all ready to...stand there.  I think he may have done a few of the gestures or tried to sing along, but he isn't one for this type of thing.  He was more looking forward to the Children's Sermon from Pastor Mark and Pastor Mark after the singing, with good reason. They gave an excellent sermon to the children.  We are blessed.

The week before Christmas, Alex had another Christmas program at preschool. He attends preschool two days a week at Sonshine Christian Preschool in New Prague.  We are again, so blessed, to be able to go.  We wouldn't be able to send Alex if it weren't for our friends, the DenHartogs, who so generously take him to and from preschool.  The program was so beautiful. They have programs to pass out, special costumes that they wore, special songs that they sang, and treats and juice afterwards.  I was the only one able to attend, but so happy that I got to be there. Alex was so excited to see me and he picked out a special table for us to sit at after the program and talk.  He had made the center piece.  I am one lucky Momma.

My beautiful Angel

We packed in a few other special things to celebrate and prepare for Christmas.  We had a little elf visit our house between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we made special reindeer food and threw it around our driveway, and we packed special dinners and drove around looking at holiday lights with our friends, the Hoppes.  We sure have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.