Happy December, and Merry Christmas!

We've been having a lot of fun decorating the house for Christmas!  We had some major car problems on our trip to and from Washington over Thanksgiving, which caused the beginning of December to be a bit stressful while we were car shopping.  Now that I've joined the ranks of "soccer moms" everywhere and gotten a van, the car stress has gone away and we are fully in the Christmas spirit.

When we first got out the tree and ornaments, Miriam and Mathias were both very excited and wanted to put ALL the ornaments on the tree.  That lasted about 15 minutes before they decided they just wanted to sort through all the ornament boxes and pull out their favorites, but never put them on the tree.  Then, they both got excited about helping Mario put up lights outside...so while Mario was putting up lights, they were both climbing up and down small ladders to "match Daddy".  Mario has been very excited to have a fresh canvas for his lights this year.  Luckily, we live in a neighborhood where people use a lot of lights to decorate their houses, so Mario feels right at home!

We've been doing a lot of fun Christmas activities that the kids are really enjoying.  They have an Advent calendar they open each morning (filled with small treats), they open an Advent calendar each night (small chocolates), we open a "25 days of Christmas" book each night, and we have a paper chain that counts down the days until Christmas.  Miriam is happy to rip a link off that chain every morning.  :)  In addition, they've been helping me bake Christmas cookies and do some Christmas arts and crafts; they even decorated paper trees that we use as decoration on our mantle!

Surprisingly, Mathias has been very good about leaving all of the Christmas decorations alone.  He really loves the Christmas tree but only likes it on colored lights (we have an artificial tree that has both options).  He has figured out how to change the lights and will always change it to colored if they are on white lights or if they are turned off.  He also loves to sit and look at the Christmas tree; sometimes, the house will be quiet (which always worries me, because it usually means he's getting into something), and I'll find him lying on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, just staring at the lights and the presents.

We went and visited Santa the other day at Mario's work, and neither Miriam or Mathias wanted to sit on his lap or have anything to do with him.  (I told Mario I was thankful that we hadn't waited in line at the mall to meet Santa!)  Miriam did consent to stand next to him and take a picture, but Mathias wouldn't go within 10 feet of him.  He kept saying "scare me, scare me!"

Miriam had her Christmas performance earlier this week.  It was only about 15 minutes long, but she happily stood up with her class and sang a couple songs.  Mathias was enthralled (he seems to love singing and dance performances!) and was happily waving to her the whole time.

Here are a couple pictures of our December so far...hopefully you are having a wonderful holiday season and no matter how or where you celebrate Christmas, we wish you a blessed day and time with loved ones!