White's Chapel Christmas Festival

The children always have such a wonderful time at the White's Chapel Christmas Festival. They always do something a little different each year, and this year they had a carnival type setting, complete with carnival rides and food. It was a cool evening, but it was really perfect for being outside. They had a live nativity scene, face painting, rides, games, pony rides, and train rides. Of course there was lots of yummy food, too. It's always fun to watch all the children having so much fun and to see friends from the church and community.

Baby Jesus Gifts

One of my favorite traditions at Chapel Hill Children's School is that every Christmas they have each of the children present gifts to Baby Jesus. They work very hard to make this a meaningful experience for the children, and I am sad our time is close to coming to an end with this. They dress the children up in robes and have them hold the Baby Jesus in their arms after they give them their gifts. It is explained to them that Jesus is not really getting the gifts, but that some little boys and girls that really have some needs for these things would be receiving their gifts. In this way, they are helping Jesus by helping other little children. I made a big deal out of taking Will to the store to purchase his gifts for Baby Jesus. He asked a few times on the way there if maybe we couldn't get just one little thing for him, too. I explained that no, this trip was not for him, but for others. He wasn't so sure, but once we got in the store, he got really into it, and kept going from item to item saying (loudly), "I think Jesus would really like this!". In fact, I had to cut him off, and tell him that I thought we had enough gifts this year for Baby Jesus.

Christmas Dance Performances

Both Allison and Caroline take combination dance classes at Lifesong in Colleyville, and they performed in the Christmas Dance Recital last Sunday, December 21st. Caroline went first and danced a tap routine to Rock Santa Rock. Allison's class performed a jazz routine to Last Christmas. Both girls have taken dance for several years, but this is our first year at Lifesong, and our first year to participate in a Christmas Recital. It was so festive, and short, which made Ray very happy! I told him not to worry. They will each be performing three dances with three new costumes next June, and he will have the privilege to sit and watch them for hours. He really does enjoy their show, and we are both very proud of our girls.

Deck The Halls

Allison began taking piano lessons last June, and she has really loved learning to play. December 20th was her first official recital at Lifesong Studio, and she played Deck the Halls. She practiced faithfully for several weeks and nailed her piece at the performance. She had such a great time, and today someone asked her what her favorite activity is and she said piano. I've been surprised that she never resists practicing except sometimes I will ask her to play a piece one more time, and she thinks she should be finished! She really does seem to enjoy practicing and doing scales. It is especially fun for her to play a song that she can sing along to. Maybe voice lessons should be next!

Gobby's 101st Birthday

The middle of December holds several special birthdays in our family. On December 17th, my maternal Grandmother, Gobby, turned 101. We celebrated by having a small party in a private room at the Bently in Dallas, where she lives. My mom brought a beautiful cake and ice cream, and Gobby was thrilled with all the attention. Our whole family along with my parents and my brother and Katherine and Libby were there. My grandmother's good friend Lelia was there along with Fiona from her church. After cake and ice cream, Gobby got open a few presents. She kept saying over and over again, "Don't I have a nice family?" She is really amazing for someone her age and even though things continue to get harder for her, she often says how good she feels for her age. She is coming to my house for Christmas this year, and we are excited because she hasn't been out of the Bently in about a year. Happy Birthday, Gobby! We can't wait to celebrate your 102nd birthday with you next year.

Polar Express Day

December 17th was a very fun day at school for the girls. It was Polar Express Day, and they both got to wear their pajamas to school for the day. Each child got a ticket to the Polar Express and Santa and Mrs. Claus (the principal) came to school and read the Polar Express Story to all the children by grade level. They had a special lunch that day, and all those that believed received a bell!

Our Day

I'm still playing catch up with blogging all of our December activities, but I thought I would stop and do a current post on what we actually did today. I loved today. I was able to sleep in a little, and then I went to the gym and had a great workout. I got housework done, and then we all made Christmas cookies complete with decorating with LOTS of sprinkles. I joked that they needed to have some cookies with their icing and sprinkles. Then we had breakfast for dinner, which is a favorite in our house, and ended the day driving around Southlake looking at Christmas lights. It was a truly enjoyable day, minus some bickering and a painting mishap, and we are looking forward to a lot of these slower paced days over the next couple of weeks.