Our "White" Christmas

I'm so sad that Christmas is over! I took all my decorations down today and my house looks depressed to me. I get sad every year when it is over and I loathe January. I fight the blahs during this month-so maybe if I blog about our holiday it will help me feel better? Here are some of the highlights I want to remember.....

THE NUTCRACKER

This was SO fun! Me, my mom and Allie went the day before Christmas Eve to Ballet West's matinee. The snow was coming down like crazy and we had to borrow my Dad's truck to get there-but we got there and it was worth every white knuckle driving moment! We have decided it is a tradition we would like to continue every year. I had Allie wear a dress and I was worried that she would be overdressed but I didn't need to worry! There were little girls in the fanciest dresses everywhere! It was really cute. We had really good seats, in fact I don't know if I have ever seen the ballet that close-up. (Me and my mother both decided that those boy ballet dancers MUST stuff their leotards-gross. I got a real good view, if you know what I mean.) The baby was going absolutely nuts during the ballet. Either that music was really stimulating or really irritating to her-but she didn't stop kicking the whole time! We went to Olive Garden before because that is Allie's favorite place to eat-of course all she really eats is the breadsticks!:) It was such a fun day to spend with my mom and my daughter. I look forward to the day that I am taking both of my girls!

Allie and my mom at the Olive Garden....aren't they cute?

Outside the Capitol-freezing our butts off while my mom tried to figure out how to "zoom" lol!

Why do we both look so bug-eyed you ask? Well-for one, I have bug eyes! Two, this was taken in the dark and the flash about blinded us both! haha...
Allie and her Clara doll I bought her-I think she was more taken with this than the ballet! She played and played with it.

After the ballet was over, you could buy a $5 ticket to go backstage to meet the dancers. They wouldn't allow me to take my camera back there-apparently the Nutcracker is all licensed, so I had to buy one of "their" pictures of Allie with the cast. This is a crappy picture-because it is a picture of a picture....but you get the idea.

SUGAR COOKIE DAY

I usually love my annual sugar cookie day-I have an AMAZING recipe from my mom who got it from her mom and it makes the BEST soft sugar cookies in the world! Really-I have neighbors who wait for a plate of these cookies all year long-and I'm no great cook, I just happen to have a great recipe. BUT for some reason this year it wasn't so much fun for me. Maybe it is because I'm pregnant and get tired so easily, or maybe it was that Allie wasn't feeling very well, or maybe it was the ENTIRE bag of flour that was used in the process and therefore all over my kitchen, OR the fact that I had to frost over 50 cookies-whatever it was, it was a big fat CHORE this year! But in the end, we got them done, they tasted fabulous, I cleaned the kitchen and we had cookies to leave out for Santa. Whew! I'm glad that my annual sugar cookie day is done for the year. Maybe next year it will be fun again? Of course, next year I will have a 8-month-old crawling around in all that flour. hmmmmm....

Easton & Allie decorating "Santa's" cookies.....

Allie was not feeling so great this day(and still isn't)....but she was a great "cookie froster!"

Christmas Eve

We put a lot of miles on our car on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have several places and parties to go to-but I'm not complaining~ It's nice to have so much family near by and to be so loved! We start at Paul's grandparents house. I have been going with Paul to his grandparent's on Christmas Eve since we started dating, so this year was my 15th year! Can you believe that? Time flies! After we leave the farm, we always head to my Mom and Dad's. My grammy Mel and Aunt Connie came and spent Christmas with our family this year, which for some reason just made Christmas more Christmasy(is that a word?). Probably because they were always part of my Christmases growing up. I love them! Aunt Connie even gave me LipSmackers-a tradition that has been going since I was about 13. Grandma told the kids about one of her Christmas memories and it made us realize just how blessed we all are. My mom always has some sort of little program on Christmas Eve and this year, I decided to make Allie and Easton sing together for it. I figure I only have a few years that Easton will actually do this kind of stuff for me! So anyway-here are my kids singing. It is only a small clip of their song -but enough that you can hear both of them. They made me cry everytime they sang this-I blame the pregnancy hormones!

I love being at my Mom's on Christmas. She has ALWAYS made Christmas so special. It is a great night for all of us and there is always lots of tears, hugging, major gift giving and laughing and I'm just nuts for my family. I am so glad that they are mine!

Mom,Dad,Grammy and Connie with all the kids...

Christmas Day
Christmas morning is always spent at our own house. Me and Paul sit up and watch White Christmas while we "wait" for Santa. (I think Paul only watches this for me-there is way too much tap dancing for him-I know it!) I'm more into the traditions of Christmas than the actual gift giving and getting. I rarely care what I get for Christmas...as long as I get to those "but we always do it" things on my list, but Santa came and everyone was SUPER happy with what he brought. It was a beautiful, "WHITE" Christmas!

"I got a toothbrush!" WHAT?! Out of everything-he went to that FIRST?! Maybe he was tired...

Come to our house and me and Allie will be baking "blueberry muffin tops" in an Easy Bake Oven! Is that not classic?!

Paul always spends the whole day assembling toys-I'm surprised he doesn't have carpal tunnel after this one...Finally....Paul will know what it is like to be warm!!I have no clue on the specs on this thing....but I know this: it is way faster, can hold a lot more pictures and it's much prettier than my old one. Santa must have thought I was very good this year! :)

Happy New Year everyone!