Holiday fun

We attended Lights in the Park again this year. The main theme appeared to be animals this time (an improvement over the alien theme of a different year). We always pack hot cocoa and treats to eat while we ride, and listen to Christmas tunes along the way. Fun!

I attended Willa's holiday party at school. We had the best time making gingerbread houses. We decided that people could survive a long time if they lived in Willa's house.

Willa is SO amazing at sharing. She told Jia she could eat whatever she wanted. She is such a sweetheart.

 

After the party, we picked Jia up from her after-school art class. Here, she and Mia are showing us some of their incredible creations.

 

We had fun playing with our elf this year. We finally named him...Jolly Jingle. The girls gave him a name tag. Here, he is holding a marshmallow barbell.

And defacing their photos.

Willa discovered that Barbie clothes fit him! I love his gold boots and shrug!
 

The girls also did this with him:

 
 

We all had a great time seeing Llama Llama Holiday Drama:

 

We love the holiday season!

Nutcracker

Fancy dresses, fancy dolls, fancy hair, fancy treats, and fancy friends! Where did we go? The Nutcracker!

The girls were very excited. 

Their dolls received shawls, tickets, and Nutcrackers before the show.

 

 

Jia slept in rollers the night before and declared, "They're uncomfortable, but worth it!" 

 

Posing with the big Nutcracker at the show.

  

Jia had fun with her good friend, Mia.

Willa and Jude were adorable and goofy!

A good night!

  

Indoor winter activities

We have been having fun both indoors as well as outdoors.

We grew crystal snowflakes:

We attempted some cute reindeer cookies we found on Pinterest:

They didn't turn out so well. But they were tasty!

I told the girls about a boy who can't move, but likes to read holiday cards. We sent him a few. I love their big hearts.

 

They also spent time making Rainbow Loom bracelets, rings and other things. Jia wears quite a few!

Snow!

With pulling the kids home from the bus stop on a sled, shoveling until my shovel broke, making snow angels and snowmen, sledding with friends, making maple snow taffy, and decorating the tree, it finally feels like winter!

 Fuzzy has big plans for this tree...

 

 

Folkways of the Holidays

We attended Folkways of the Holidays at The Landing and had the best time learning about 19th century holiday traditions.

The highlight of the day was when Santa showed Willa a lump of coal and a chocolate coin and asked, "Have your parents been good this year?" Willa, feeling the need for complete honesty, replied, "Well, Santa, they've said swear words." Santa ho ho ho'd a lot about that! (And gave us the chocolate anyway.)

 

We took a carriage ride to visit the buildings, all of which were decorated for the holidays.

 

 
Trying out a traditional toy. 

  
Pretending to be the teacher.

Concerned about this man who is about to attempt old-fashioned shaving. 

 
Helping to sew suspenders!

 Right before Willa busted us.

Jia found a wooly bear caterpillar!

The girls got to to spin a dreidel to determine the next song!

 Eating ebelskiver, a delicious Scandinavian dessert. 

 Ready for the horses to pull us back!

These horses were so soft and velvety!

We had such a great time. Going each year will definitely be a holiday tradition for us!