Christmas whirlwind

We are enjoying our Christmas break immensely. There has been much family visiting, game playing, snowcat building, playing, eating, baking and memory making. It has been delightful (except for the vomit on Christmas Day, could have done without that).

Ballet open house

Once a year, the ballet teacher allows parents to sit in on the ballet/tap class. Her door is always open during class, but she prefers to teach without distractions from parents and siblings. This open house happens at Christmas time and is so much fun!

Unfortunately, the evening didn't go as planned. Gemma got sick (all over John) on our way out the door. We had to quickly regroup and come up with a new plan for the evening.

Amelia is progressing very well with her ballet and the new addition of tap. We are so proud of our girl and the hard work she is doing!

Class parties

Wednesday was the much anticipated winter parties for the big kids at school. Having both the kids at same school makes things a little more tricky as the parties are the same day and the same day.

I was in charge of providing games and crafts for one party and snack for the other. I managed to make it to both parties and see both kids in action, but boy was I tired afterwards!

Christmas clothes

Tuesday was Gemma's school program and party. Wednesday was Amelia and William's school sing a long and school parties. It has been busy week for us!

The kids wanted to wear festive clothes to school for their parties, including William, which is a bit of a surprise. He is usually primarily concerned with being comfy and not at all concerned with being matching or attractive.


Once fancy, the kids agreed to more pictures by the tree. But only if they could have their stuffed animals. The last picture shows William's reaction to my suggestion that his sisters lean in for a kiss...

Christmas program

Gemma had a Christmas program at school last week and she wore a pretty dress. She was very happy and proud of her dress- she even let me take some pictures of her with her sister by the tree.

Please note: she was dressed, but I hadn't combed her hair yet! It's still a mess. I promise I combed it before we left the house.

Sometimes

Sometimes I flip through the pictures on my phone and I find little surprises. Unexpected gems that I didn't take myself and I had no idea that they were there.

Like these:

It's the little things

It is the little things that make it Christmas to me. We recently acquired a Swedish angel chime. Growing up, we had one and would light it during the Christmas season. This night we were eating spaghetti. All the kids refused sauce and ate just noodles. I tried out a new recipe for cooked carrots and the kids were not having it.

But, the angel chimes were in motion, we were eating off our Christmas dishes and using the Christmas napkins. It was perfect.