Sleep Style

 Not the best pictures, but this is how they get ready for bed now--socks and slippers, bath robe (actually a beach robe), and sleeping masks. Both actually go to sleep in the masks, and leave them on about 1/2 the night. It's pretty funny when I go check on them, and they are both wearing a mask. It makes me laugh out loud every time. 

More Christmas

 At Aunt Renee's they got even more presents. Juliet got Melody, whom she LOVES. Leah got more American Girl clothes. She also got a "Big Girl" scooter which she has been wanting for some time. Too bad it is too cold to use it. :(

 For our annual picture, Trevor's girlfriend balanced on a chair and took pictures fast, because the battery light was blinking. It was pretty funny. The girls had a lot of fun playing with their cousins and Trevor's girlfriend.

Christmas Morning

 Christmas Morning!

The girls were pretty good this year, so Santa rewarded them with presents. What they wanted the most from Santa was "Bootsie" (Leah--a Fur Real Cat) and "Cuddles" (Juliet--a Fur Real Type dog). They were both SO EXCITED to get their major Santa gifts, but of course, have played with both those toys very sparsely over the past 2 weeks.

The big winners from Santa were Juliet's Glinda dress (Oh, how she loves Wicked. She would listen to it and act it out every day if she could), a genie costume for Leah, Leah's dress up scarf, and sticker by number type art projects for both kids. Leah must have gotten close to 30 new books between Santa and us, and has been a reading machine over break. Her favorite were the Magic Treehouse "Fact-checker" books which are like non-fiction chapter books that cover the same topics as the fiction series. 

 From us, Leah is obsessed with her socks and sleeping mask. Juliet was so angry that she didn't get a sleeping mask that we had to order her one on Amazon. Leah got 2 science kits -- crack open your own geodes and a digging for gold kit. She loved them both. Juliet likes her Ice Cream Truck (but not as much as I thought she would) and her new legos. Leah also likes her new Legos.

 The kids both always have wanted a train that went around the tree. So, that was also one of their presents. I ordered it from The Disney Store and they ended up sending a collection of dolls instead. We didn't open the package until December 22, so I sat on the phone for 45 minutes that night waiting to talk to a representative. They ended up overnighting the train, and we donated the dolls to Juliet's preschool. 

 Annual Christmas Morning picture!

 At first, Juliet couldn't see Cuddles and she was really, really worried. She was happy when she found her!

 Leah got Lea's jammies. Now she matches her doll!

 Genie

 Getting ready to crack open geodes. Poor Chris is pretty sure that he damaged his ears for life. 

 Juliet and a collection of Christmas gifts overflowing the table.

 Leah doing her sticker art.

 Last year we started the tradition of making cinnamon rolls Christmas morning. I couldn't find the same recipe we used last year, so I found another one. This one took 5x as long. Never again. It was way too time consuming. The kids didn't eat until 1 (they refused to have anything else). Next year I am googling the easiest cinnamon rolls possible. 

Sister Gift Exchange

 The girls did their annual sister exchange. In keeping with last year's tradition, they both bought each other American Girl Stuff. Leah got Juliet Kit's Holiday dress, and Juliet got Leah a ballet costume for her doll. They both got each other books, too. Leah got "The Book With No Pictures" which she finds completely hilarious, and Leah got Juliet a Click Clack Moo holiday book. Both kids were happy (though Juliet was a little bit of a stinker about the book. Leah wanted her book, so she was super excited. Juliet had never seen or heard of her book before so she was irrationally angry that Leah was more excited than she was).

I think this is the last year Leah will wear the "Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animal" shirt. She thinks it is quite embarrassing. She somehow has the idea it offends Santa's reindeer, though she has seen Home Alone more times than I can count, and knows the line comes from the movie (which never even touches on reindeer). Chris and I said that we were going to get shirts next year. We think they are awesome!

Cookies

 We made our annual cookies. Leah upped her game and made several cookies. Juliet worked hard and made one. Then she ate it. 

 Juliet and her one and only cookie. Leah and one of 3 or 4. They were good! 

Real Life Sing

 One of my favorite things about Juliet's preschool is their Christmas performance. The kids sing the cutest concert for all their families. We broke Leah out of school to attend. Leah was so excited and insisted on dressing up. Afterward we went to Olga's for lunch and then Leah and I went back to school. 

 I really wanted this one to wear dress shoes, but she insisted on Uggs. 

 Juliet was singing, "You better not pout", This was her pout face. Pretty good. 

 Here she was a reindeer. 

 We had the best seats (I went down the day before and got seats in the front row), which were great for us to see Juliet, but didn't really lend themselves to getting pictures of her class. Oh well. This is almost all of them. I didn't save Leah a seat, because we were in the front row, and I didn't think it was fair to give her her own seat, when so many adults have to end up standing in the back because there is never enough seats. Leah sat on the floor in front of us. Leah was NOT happy about this, and is still reminding me how bad her seat was. 

Santa!

This year we didn't take our usual hooky day, since we already took off 3.5 days when we went to Disney. Instead, we went on the weekend. The idea of the mall on the weekend was pretty scary to me, but now Santa has FAST PASSES! For an extra $15 you go straight to the front of the line. Genius.

This year there was a "Scout Elf" theme and the kids had a lot of fun making an ID badge, powering the sleigh, and playing in the fake snow. They were very excited to see Santa, and very disappointed that we didn't hang around the mall all afternoon.

Christmas Ornaments and List

 Every year I buy the girls a hand blown glass ornament. They are my favorite. This year we ordered them from the Uncommon Goods catalog because the kids fell in love with these designs. Both ornaments have a little tree inside of them made of glass. Leah picked one that meant "Peace". She said we would need that with Donald Trump in charge. Juliet picked "Winter" because she liked the colors. We didn't realize how HUGE they were when we ordered. Jeez. These are giant sized. It took Chris a LONG time to find a branch strong enough to support them. It will be the last time we get an ornament from that catalog.

 I like this picture of Ollie crashing the picture and the fact that the girls are sitting on Chris. 

 This was their Christmas list this year. I only let them ask for 4 things, so they didn't fill out the last line. They both got everything on their list, and a few more things, of course.

O Christmas Tree

 These two loved their elf jammies this year. 

 This year we went on our annual Christmas tree hunt/suddenly we're starving/find a tree fast/go eat Mexican expedition. Juliet was a bit of a crank pot this year. 

 She liked the idea of a Charlie Brown tree

 This was one of her only smiles. The rest of the time she was begging us to carry her, whining about being hungry, and letting us know that walking is hard. 

 Leah with our first round contender tree. We didn't end up getting this tree because it had a double stump, and wouldn't have fit in our tree stand. 

 This picture summed up our experience.

 Everyone perked up when we got to ride the horse pulled wagon. 

 Leah really liked the horses.

 Juliet is pretty happy here because she knew the next stop was chips and guac.