Scenes From Our December

 This was the first year to take the girls to see Santa and it went down exactly as I expected.

Haven was crying before she even got near him.  

It is funny because somewhere I have almost the exact picture of my sister and I when we were similar ages.  

Anna was a little cautious but warmed up and told Santa she wanted a cat.  

I guess Santa ran out of room on his sleigh for that one!

 

 They were both much happier eating a cookie in the mall.

We also made sugar cookies one night...

 And decorated them the next morning.

   

 We attempted our first gingerbread house and it actually stayed together.

 

  By far, their favorite activity from December 1st to the 25the was the Advent calendars!  

Every morning one of them got to hang a birdhouse on the tree.

 

 And every evening at bedtime, the other one got to open the Advent box and get out the figurine that went with the bible story for that night.  

After their pajamas were on, they would both run to the calendar to see what was in it.  

They traded off each day and Anna was always quick to remind me of whose turn it was.

I love that this was naturally their favorite activity and the one most focused on the reason we celebrate Christmas.