This Christmas season was so busy.
We picked out our tree from Cooks on November 28th.
Daddy picked out Stella's lumberjack outfit. Gosh, she's adorable!
All the wood she chopped.
And decorated it the next night.
Cooks seemed to only have really big trees or small trees. Clearly our house isn't a big tree house so we got a small one and Donald built a little table for it. And he hates our star tree topper because it's a pain to mount so I just put our last name initial up there with the intention of making a burlap bow to put on top. I eventually got the bow made, but it was after Christmas. Ha. Next year. So I just shoved a Christmas colored arrow up there that me and Stella made from a kit from Target.
We did the candy cane hunt at The Mable House on Saturday, December 3rd.
Stella actually asked to take a picture with me. I couldn't get over there quick enough for fear she'd change her mind. Ha.
She got a little scared during the candy cane hunt with everyone running around, but we calmed her down and she grabbed a few dozen.
She said she wanted to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus so as soon as the candy cane hunt was over, we ran up to the house where they were. We stood in line for maybe ten minutes. When it was her turn I could see a look of fear sweep over her face and knew it wasn't happening. She started crying so we just walked out.
But everything was ok shortly after because she and Donald made a gingerbread house.
Then she decorated a cookie and roasted a marshmallow with me.
We picked up Zaxby's for lunch then headed back home to finish getting everything together for our trip to Disney the next morning.
That evening I ran the Lights of Life 5K for the 3rd time. I ran with Kate and Adrianna from St. Thomas. It was deja vu with the weather once again-cold and drizzly.
Can't help but wonder-how long did it take to get all of this glitter out?
Sunday we left for Disney-but that's a separate post.
Our Friendsgivingmas get together was on the 11th, but again-separate blog post.
We met Kimberly and Charlotte at Lenox Mall on the 13th to ride the Pink Pig. We got there first and walked around. We accidentally came across Santa's workshop and Stella surprised me by telling me she wanted to sit with him. I'd asked her several times if she thought she might want to visit him, but all I got was a big fat "No!". She nearly tackled him when she ran up and ended sitting with him talking for probably 4-5 minutes. She took several pictures with him (which of course I purchased) and even gave him a big hug when she left. I was so happy and proud of her. This is the first Santa picture we've gotten since she was 6 months old.
The girls had so much fun. They even both sat with Priscilla herself.
The kids dined on Chick-Fil-A while Kimberly and I had Chipotle.
We got the Mickey Mouse ears hat from Disney for an ornament. Here Stella is in her cute Nutcracker mouse pj's hanging it on the tree.
Stella helped me make these ornament dip mixes as little gifts for people. As cute as these look, I much prefer putting them into the small clear plastic baggies.
Stella's school Christmas program was on Wednesday, December 14. She was so happy both me and Daddy were both there to see her. She kept waving to us throughout the performance. We were in the very back and couldn't get any good pictures. It was pretty funny to watch. I actually teared up a little thinking this is the good stuff. My heart was so full. Her class sang "Feliz Navidad" and a few other songs, but Feliz was by far her favorite. It's late January and she's still requesting me to play it.
After school, Tiffany, Landon and Hudson joined us at the West Cobb Avenues for their free horse-drawn carriage rides. We did this last year and Stella enjoyed it. We actually swung by Tiffany's to grab Landon because Hudson was still napping. He didn't sleep long after we left and we didn't have to stand in line but maybe 20 minutes so they met us there which worked out great time wise. We skipped the cookie decorating since the kids had consumed so much excess sugar lately. They didn't even know it was an option so there was no problem there.
On Thursday, the 15th, that afternoon, Stella curled up on the floor on her caterpillar with a blankie and we watched Home Alone-at Stella's request which just made my day. We ended up watching it four or five times this Holiday season. She really liked it. I liked that she called it "Home Alome."
Side note: Stella picked out these two reindeer from Claire's. Rudolph sings, you guessed it-Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer." She named the girl one "Lefa" pronounced "Leh-feh."
As a little gift to her classmates we made old crayons new again. We broke up ones that were already broken or almost gone, put them in silicone molds and melted them down in the oven. She really liked helping with this too.
That evening we made cookies for her school party the next day. I'm so happy she loves cooking and baking with me.
She's good at rolling.....
...but cutting out the cookies is her favorite part.
We took all of the cookies to school and each kid decorated one. I brought the remainder back home and decorated them myself that weekend.
Late one night I made a yummy ice cream sandwich with the vanilla bean Halo Top ice cream.
Her pj party and her last day of school was on Friday the 16th.
We got pizza, chocolate milk and cookies for the kids.
That afternoon, this happened in the LaZ Boy.
That night we went up to St. Thomas to enjoy a live Christmas Eve journey called Las Posadas. We walked around the church grounds following behind Joseph and Mary (who was actually on a donkey) as though we were following them on their trip to Bethlehem.
It lasted about an hour and ended down at the playground under a shelter/manger. They actually had a real baby in the manger and I had no idea until I got up to take this picture because the baby was so quiet and well behaved.
Saturday, the 17th was Donald's company Christmas party-separate post again so Stella had some quality time with Lollipop.
Sunday Donald went to the Falcons game with Carlos and a few others while I took Stella over to Crissy's for a little get together with the girls. Lynn brought Ava and Ellery, but Sophia and Londynn couldn't make it. We agreed to just buy the same $5 gift for each kid to make it easy. Stella picked out birdhouses at Hobby Lobby that week and insisted that be her gift. So I brought over an old plastic tablecloth, paint and paintbrushes and let the girls decorate their own birdhouse. They really enjoyed this. The girls got cold-weather hats from Harper (Stella's is a puppy dog) and Ava gave everyone Melissa and Doug reusable sticker books.
On Monday, the 19th, Donald had to go to Austin, Tx for a few days. That afternoon we went up to The Marietta Square. We had lunch at The Australian Bakery Cafe and Stella devoured an entire shepherd's pie. The plan was to hang around until 4:30 when the ice rink opened up.
We killed some time at the candy shop-Rocket Fizz. We picked out some root beer for Pop and Uncle Mikey and ginger beer for Donald.
There was an older man sitting at the corner of one of the entrances to the center of the square asking for food and money. I didn't have any cash. While we ate lunch I considered buying him a hot meal, but I looked an didn't see him so I thought he left. When we brought our purchases from Rocket Fizz back to the car we saw him again. I keep a bag of healthy snacks in the car and knew I had just restocked. Stella asked about him and I explained he was cold and hungry. She offered to give him her snacks in the car. She picked out five things for him and took such delight in giving them to him. She was jumping up and down with excitement just to share with him. The smile on her face was unbelievable. One of the biggest. Just after we walked away she said, "Mama, that made him so happy. And I was happy."
Then we walked around on the center of the square to look at the cool metal reindeer and Christmas trees. (Here's her dog hat from Harper.)
I'd wanted us to go ice skating, but we weren't prepared for it. It was not that cold when I left the house and since we didn't have more clothes/jackets we were just so uncomfortably cold we had to leave.
Tuesday, the 20th we met Crissy and Harper in Smyrna so we could walk around and see the *free* lights.
Afterwards we had supper at Captain D's. Stella loves this place. I'd like to say we went inside and warmed up, but it was so cold in here.
Christmas Eve/Day.....
We had three packs of reindeer food. So some went in the backyard, some on the front porch and some in the driveway. We put out almond milk, water (Stella's idea), homemade cookies and carrots. Then Stella and Daddy got to working on the letter to Santa. Daddy wrote letter and Stella wrote all of the reindeer's names around the edge of the letter and added decoration.
Table all decorated for Christmas morning Stella's new dollhouse
We found this letter from Santa on Stella's chalkboard.
Besides the stuff mentioned above, Stella received Paw Patrol pj's (2 sets) and a Paw Patrol shirt, baseball glove and bat plus a 6 pack of balls, some books, a seasonal puzzle, chia head monster plant pots, magnets, Dory underwear and tissues, new toothbrushes, t-shirt markers and a dino dig toy.
Bandit got a new toy which he clearly loved.
We basically stayed in our pj's all day. Once again it was unseasonably warm, but overcast and definitely not as humid as the year before. It was just me, Stella and Donald this year for Christmas which was nice, but also super quiet and just.....different.
We enjoyed a yummy Christmas breakfast inside and Christmas supper was a roast which was eaten on the back porch since it was so warm out. We played some card games on the porch and sipped on wine. It was very relaxing and a great day.
The next morning we left for Sylvester. We had Christmas at Nini and Grandaddy's that evening. Stella received more Paw Patrol stuff (1000 + piece art set, homemade PP snuggie from Aunt Ginger, another Chase, PP press-on earrings), plus other stuff. Stella enjoyed spending time with her cousins and opening so.many.gifts.
We visited with Grandpa for a while and Stella got to feed the fish.
We opened gifts at Lollipop's Tuesday and Stella was, once again showered with tons of presents. Nina came out and we mostly hung out outside. Stella's chose to lounge in her patio furniture that she received for Christmas last year.
Wednesday, we left Stella at Lollipop's while Donald and I headed to the beach for New Years Eve. We discussed doing Christmas next year at the beach. We'll see.....
No comments:
Post a Comment