Merry Christmas!

The month of December has been a flurry of activity.

We got our Christmas tree...

Saw the dancers from The Nutcracker Ballet at story time...

I took Charlotte to the Nutcracker Ballet (a 2 hour performance for a 2 year old - risky, yes... but she was so good and she LOVED it)...

Ever since seeing the ballet, Charlotte has been absolutely OBSESSED with all things pertaining to the Nutcracker. She has 2 books that we read several times a day. She prances around the house in a tutu pretending and acting out different parts of the story. She often will introduce herself as "Clara" the little girl from the story. She dances, talks, plays, and even sleeps with her nutcracker. She can be heard humming the tunes to several of the songs and singing the "Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ah-ah" chorus of the snow fairies. We listen to the CD just about every day and she dances around recognizing which song goes with which part of the ballet. "Now its da dancing doll!" "Oh! Dis is the part widda MICE!" "Dis is da one widda flexibow lady!" She will also do distinctly different dances for each of these songs; for example, tippy toes, scurrying around like a mouse, the splits, kicking, etc... I will try to get some videos of this on here...

We met up with some friends from Nashville in a little town called Bell Buckle, TN for some Christmas shopping, a visit with Santa, and a buggy ride...

We participated in the neighborhood's annual luminary display. My favorite part was our family walk through the neighborhood and hearing Charlotte say the word "luminary" over and over as she identified each one along the way, "Oh! Look at doze luminaries!... Look! Some MORE luminaries!"

I took her to our church's Christmas Festival concert, live nativity, and nativity display.

We had our Annual Gingerbread Making Extravaganza...

Please notice the nutcracker helping Charlotte decorate her house!

And last night I hosted my first Christmas Eve dinner. I was really excited about it and I felt so grown up being in charge of the dinner. We invited Alison, Phil, and Garrett, and the 2 missionaries from our church. Having a brother serving a mission in Peru, I felt honored to have the missionaries in our home for Christmas - part of me couldn't help thinking that hopefully some nice family in Peru was doing the same thing for him. That same night, before dinner, I got to talk with him on the phone! We love and miss you, Elder Jonny!"

After dinner, we had the Norwegian dessert of Ris Krem, followed by marzipan. I forgot to get a picture of it!

Then we read the Christmas story from the Bible and acted it out. I want to thank all the willing adult participants! Charlotte, you were the perfect mother Mary - gentle, attentive, loving, and in awe of her wondrous baby.

Also, I want to mention that the baby doll playing the role of Baby Jesus was MY baby doll when I was a little girl. She is my sweet Baby Sarah. That doll made her first debut as Baby Jesus ~ 25 years ago!

After writing a note to Santa and leaving out cookies and carrots, it was time for bed!

Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!