Only Nine Days 'Till Christmas

The Christmas tree counter says it is only 9 days until Christmas! Where has the time gone? I had all these glorious ideas of documenting December with the girls, doing cute Christmas crafts and fun winter activities and we have not done any of that.

These last two weeks have been so busy! The first week of December, we spent every evening in church rehearsing for the Christmas Play. Kaitlin had one of the main parts and Natalie had a small one. One of the nights of rehearsal the little town our church is in conducted a Christmas Festival and I took the girls for a little bit to visit some of the business that were giving away prizes and we took a Horse Carriage Ride. It was incredibly cold, but they had fun with their friends.



The Christmas Musical took place on Saturday night, December 6th and all the kids did an awesome job! My sister Ivonne is the choir director and her dedication to making this program a success really paid off. Here are some pictures of the program. Natalie was so tired in most pictures she was either yawning or just looking lost in space. The day before she had her Five Year Well Check-up and had gotten 4 vaccinations. This night she was feeling under the weather and had a little bit of a fever.

The Spelling Bee Judge and the Cute Pronouncer

Cheesy Angel Smile

My Angel about to have a meltdown from tiredness

She's had enough

This last week, we still spent most evenings at church rehearsing for another Christmas program Kaitlin was participating in. This time it was her Hand Mime group "Swords of Light". Their presentation was this last Saturday evening and they did a very nice job. I was busy helping out behind the scenes and was not able to take any pictures. I will update with some pictures later as I am sure one of the other parents must taken some.

Last Sunday we took the girls to see a production of The Nutcracker Ballet at the
Morris Performing Arts Center. To my relief both girls enjoyed it very much. The night before, upset because we had decided to go home instead of attending our Church’s Christmas Banquet, Natalie started complaining how ballet is so boring and people don't even talk and just dance around and around and around. For a split second, I doubted my decision to buy the tickets, but I knew she would really enjoy it. She loved the costumes and recognized some of the music from her Barbie and The Nutcracker. She sat by her dad and he was her “translator” for the whole show. She wanted to put everything in the context of the Barbie movie.

En Route

Getting Ready





During Intermission


Mom and Girls



Tonight we have what I hope is our last program of the year. Kaitlin's school is presenting their Christmas concert this evening. She is not very excited about participating at all, but it is something she needs to do. She keeps wishing her music teacher at school did programs that are more “interesting”. A little bit demanding, don't you think?

The girls start their Christmas Break on Thursday at noon and Joel will be able to spend the whole time home with the girls. I am so glad about that because the girls have really been missing having him around. I hope that next week we will be able to do some of the activities I had originally planned for.