The Carol that You Sing

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.  

Also, we go through so much toilet paper. This is why we can't have nice things.  

We had some pretty strong wind gusts last week that sent the playhouse tumbling and knocked some holes in it.  Sad day.  It's not quite as cute as it was a while ago. 

 The girls and I went and picked out a Christmas tree on a cold windy day so we were in and out pretty fast.  They had fun playing on the sleigh and pretending they were reindeer. 

They were actually halfway helpful with the decorating.

 They distributed their ornaments fairly well.

 And then of course we had to shut off all the lights and bask in the glow for a while.

 It's so beautiful....

 I made springerle this year and they rose a little bit.  I think I need to ask grandma what her process is and see what I'm doing wrong...

 But I have to climb on the table to touch these pretty flowers.

 I am not up for making real gingerbread houses, and I saw these cardboard houses at hobby lobby.

 Much less messy and they'll last longer. (Or at least, not need to be eaten since we have enough sweets as it is.)

 So festive.  Ha. 

 I let them decorate cookies.  They each got a few to decorate as they pleased.  And they went into their own containers not to be shared.  I decorated the rest with a little less frosting and sprinkles and I didn't lick any knives. 

 I wasn't paying close enough attention and Emmy squeezed half a bag of frosting onto one cookie.

 They were pretty serious about their decorating. 

Cecily and Emmy were super excited to go to program practice at church.  And get presents and eat cookies.  Cadence was very unexcited to get left behind when I dropped them off and picked them up. 

So when I was 6 or 7 Grandma bought Abby and I these awesome red wool coats.  They were sooooo cool.  And classic.  And classy.  They had matching hats too.  It was my church coat and I loved that coat.  (Awww.... little Matt....)

 Then of course we grew out of them and they got passed down to our sisters, and cousins, and other little girls at church.  It's been back in my closet for a few years now waiting for Cecily to grow into it.  The original hat is long gone, but the coat itself still looks brand new.  I was soooo excited for her to wear it.  Guess what- she hates it.  Haha.  I told her she has to wear it at LEAST once, I mean, Emmy and Cadence both have red church coats this year and they would be so cute together.  So she wore it to the Christmas program. 

 The Christmas Program was quite the night.  Emmy and Cecily both did not distinguish themselves, which is good.  The Nursery class as a whole though, was a hilarious train wreck.  I laugh every time I listen to it.  Picture a bunch of exuberant boys waving, making funny noises, sitting down, falling down, looking back over the pulpit; Emmy and three or four others soldiering on.  Haha.  It was so funny.  I was laughing so hard (quietly) that I had tears running down my cheeks and I couldn't really see the last third of their performance.  Little Emmy just stood there singing Away in a Manger and side-eyeing the craziness going on around her. 

Monday morning, bright and early, Emmy and Cadence got to play at Eva's house while I got a cavity filled.  The dentist said it was near the nerve so he numbed it twice and I ended up not being able to feel half my face for three hours.  Ugh. 
In the evening the Washington girls got together.  We met at a nursing home to sing some Christmas Carols first.  It's a low income home with a bad reputation and most of us didn't tell our husbands we were going there until we got home... haha.  I'm sure we were perfectly safe.  Anyway, Erin, Amy, Elise, and Katie and I sang- they announced us over the loudspeaker- only slightly intimidating. We managed 3 part harmony, and we've been singing together for years, so hopefully it wasn't too obvious that we hadn't seen each other in several months, let alone practiced.  They seemed to appreciate it, even though we don't know the words to Deck the Hall.  The guy guarding the door almost got choked up when we left and said we 'took him back to his childhood.' 
We met up with Katelyn and Heidi at Obed and Isaac's for supper, which was delicious.  Some of the girls are way more ambitious than me and brought cookies to exchange.  And then I got to come home and get the girls to bed at a decent hour.  So fun.     
Who needs the festival of lights when you can go to Menards?

Actually, we did go see the lights tonight with Sharon, Grace, and Eden.  It was fun, they were pretty, the girls were wild, and now I have a slight headache.  Woot. 
Blessings.