Santa and more

Saturday I took the kids to see Santa at our community center. It was a fun event that included cookie decorating, coloring, snacks and of course photos with Santa. It was a great opportunity for me to get out of the house. I have had a cold this past week and haven't had the will or energy to do much. The girls were thrilled with the activity, and enjoyed meeting Santa. While the girls were sitting on Santa's lap Sophia told Santa that Ellie had been naughty this year. Too funny. You should have seen the look on Ellie's face! Santa assured Sophia that he thought both girls had been good this year. Gradon met Santa and was a pleasant baby while I snapped a few photos. It's been a fun month so far, I am trying to really stay focused on what is important with this special holiday.

Sunday night we read about Samuel the Lamanite and his prophecy of Christ. Ellie loves to sing Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus, we sang that after we read the account of his prophecy and discussed the meaning of the signs of his birth. The girls have really been interested in learning about what Christmas really means, and it is special to be able to help them understand why we celebrate Christmas. Last night we decorated our tree! It was crazy fun, the girls were so wound up and excited to finally get our tree out. We decided to use our little fake tree this year and save some money, but the girls didn't mind, it's pretty cute covered in tons of ornaments. Ellie has wrapped some home made gifts for our family, her 'first gifts' of Christmas for us to open Christmas eve. Our home is looking festive, and it is adding to the Christmas spirit in our home.

Chris is busy with school, only one huge final left on Friday, and then he finally gets a break before the last push of this academic year. Honestly, I am surprised at how quickly it has been going by, although Chris would probably disagree with me. I am so proud of him and how hard he works, it is exciting to see his progress to becoming a doctor. I am glad he will have some time to enjoy the holidays with us, I have a few fun things planned for our family this holiday to do all together. We are looking forward to getting his rotation schedule, which will determine where he will be working next school year. We should know in the next 2 weeks or so what that will be. It's been a busy and good month so far, lots more 'holly jollys' (as Ellie likes to say) to come.