December Pics

This was some time shortly after Katie got her glasses. She suddenly discovered there is a bag of hair things for her that I never get out because I just don't think about it. We had a good time doing her hair while I was doing mine for Jeremy's work Christmas party.
She's adorable, band-aid, glasses, hair things, and all.

Over our three Christmases here we have inherited a large amount of little girl Christmas dresses. Even two of the same one, go figure. I'm not complaining. I had them in different dresses each week this month. I think they liked getting so dressed up.

We had a sunny day here (the snow has not stuck yet) and I was determined to go for a hike. I had a good chat with them pre-hike about how it can be a lot of fun if everyone listens, but because there are three of them I cannot help anyone who's throwing a tantrum. Well, only a few hundred yards into our little hike Cora started a melt-down. I just walked away with Katie and Sydney, then Katie stops and says, " Mom, we can't leave Cora. Wait right here and I'll go get her." So there went my little tantrum queen to quiet her little sister, grab her hand and gently bring her back to us. Katie was determined to keep us together. I told her she's a good hiking buddy and she said, "No, I'm not. I'm a girl." That, too. It was so nice to feel the sunshine!

We started to decorate the tree with everyone, then quickly realized that was not so smart. After we put the twins to bed we had Katie help us and she LOVED putting the ornaments on the tree. Too bad it got tipped over twice over the next two days. That's OK, I figured it was only twice for the whole time the tree was up. Someone suggested something to me though, we may just go with home-made ornaments each year, like from paper, foil, and food, until we don't have to worry so much about it tipping over. If I can just remember to make the time for it next year.

Since Christmas Eve was a Saturday this year we had Jeremy home with us and decided to spend the morning at the Joseph Smith Birthplace. They have a stable set up there with two sheep and a donkey named Annie. The girls had a lot of fun petting them. The sister missionary there was so kind. She brought us in for left-over cake. We started talking and she had served a mission with her husband in Argentina. I told her I'd noticed the Argentine nativity they had there because I'd served in Argentina as well. She looked at me and said, "It's yours." She felt it would do our family more good than hers now and really wanted us to have it. I was so touched by her kindness. It made for a very nice start to Christmas Eve.

Sydney.

All in all our Christmas was super simple. We were able to visit with friends, go to church, sing some songs, call all of our family, but best of all we were able to just be together. The girls favorite things were the candy canes and suckers in their stockings! Jeremy and I got socks. We are living the good life. Actually, we really are. I love it. It's intense, it was a choice, and I would not have chosen anything else.