Celebrating the Season

We have done some fun things to welcome the Christmas season this year. The weekend after Thanksgiving, we went to Memphis to see John's parents. On Saturday, we took the girls to see the Enchanted Forest at the Pink Palace. C liked it, but her favorite part was riding the "escabator". That was the most expensive escalator ride ever. As soon as we got to the second floor {where the Enchanted Forest was}, she wanted to ride back down. The whole time we were walking through the exhibit, she asked when we could go ride the escabator. If you asked her what was her favorite thing about the Enchanted Forest, she said the escabator. :)

Checking out Frosty

The best we could do. No surprise there.

That night we drove through Shelby Farms to look at the Christmas lights. Sounded fun on paper. Not as much fun when executed. We had to wait in a long line to get in, and by the time we got to the entrance, C was about done. And SC, who is normally very content in the car, was getting very fussy since it was dinner/bed time. And there might have been some slight bickering/miscommunication by the grown-ups in the front. And John, Robert and I were crammed into the 3rd row seat a la high school Friday nights. Good times!

At the end they had a petting zoo. We didn't anticipate getting out of the car, so we didn't have jackets and Curran didn't have shoes. But how could we pass up a chance to ride a camel or miniature pony? So here is my little redneck, having the time of her life on that pony.

A few weeks ago, Curran had her Christmas program at school. They did it differently this year from years past. Normally it's at night, and all the classes sing songs {and the little ones who are too young to sing parade to the stage at the end}. This year they did a Breakfast with Santa, and then the older classes sang a few songs, and the girls who take ballet danced. I was sad the younger kids {Sallie Cate} didn't get to participate, but it was a fun change of pace. And I LOVED getting to see C's ballet class perform. It was too cute, and of course I teared up. :) I know she's small, but seeing her up there with all the other girls made her look TINY!

SC did well with Santa. She just tugged on his beard. We couldn't get a smile, but no tears. I consider that a success!

This was as close as C got to Santa. She was adamant about not wanting to sit on Santa's lap, so we certainly didn't push it.

{Convo I put on Facebook in November:

C: Is it Christmas time yet?

Me: No, first we have Thanksgiving, and that's a time in which we thank God for all our blessings.

C: Well, I'm thankful for Santa, but I do NOT want to sit on his lap!"

At that point we hadn't even talked about Santa yet. She still very clearly remembers the traumatic experience from last year. Hilarious.}

eating breakfast

Can you spot her?

My tiny little ballerina. To her credit, most of the girls around her {except her BFF in the purple leotard} are 4 or 5.

One Saturday morning, we had some friends over to do a Christmas tree craft and play.

Louis just enjoyed his "Christmas tree" plain and ate the decorations separately. :)

These two were more interested in the decor, too, but who can blame them?

The bigger kids took their decorating {and then subsequent eating} very seriously.

This little lady slept through most of the play date.

We've also had fun doing some other things, like

Breaking out the Christmas pj's {in this case, loving these new ones sent from our Aunt Janie},

Posing with our Nutcracker in a precious jumper made by Aunt Mary,

Making gifts for teachers and neighbors,

and putting together our gingerbread village, compliments of Cricky. Next year I'll be requesting that she goes back to giving us the regular house. The village is too much work for this mama.

We have a few more fun activities up our sleeves before Christmas arrives. It has been a season full of mess making and memory making, and we are loving every minute of it!