I know I've been posting a lot about Christmas and Holiday events this year. I can't help it -- I really love Christmas, and I love Christmas traditions, old and new. But I did try and hold off so I could put all the fun stuff we've done this week into one big blog post.
On the last day of school, Gavin's class put on a performance of the Kindergarten classic "Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts." Gavin was the baker -- it was his job to introduce all the different cookies. The whole thing lasted all of ten minutes. Nothing is sweeter than singing Kindergarteners dressed up as cookies.
With the kids out of school (and some snow on the ground, finally!) Austin was able to get out his new (to us) snowmobile and pull the kids around the field.
The ski helmets, goggles, and balaclavas were perfect for a snowy ride on a beautiful but frigid December day.
I found these fun Gingerbread houses at Costco and we spent an afternoon decorating them. Lucy frosted the front of her "toy shop" house to look like the picture on the box but made the back look like a big red barn. Love it. These kids are such Vermonters -- of course Santa would need a barn to go with his house!
We fed the gingerbread house and barn to the chickens for their special treat on Christmas Day.
We continued our tradition of the Bethlehem Dinner, inviting friends over for a multi-course Middle Eastern dinner (hummus, cheese, grapes and olives, followed by lentil soup, then chicken, tilapia and couscous with olive tapenade, and baklava and fruit for dessert.) Luckily, people in the Middle East eat sitting on the floor, because we don't have a table that could accommodate so many people! After dinner the kids (and a couple of good-sport teenagers) put on the nativity play.
Christmas Day was wonderful. Lucy got a My American Girl doll and a camera from Santa, but her favorite gift seems to have been a sewing kit. She spent most of the day working on sewing projects.
Gavin got the Lego Hogwarts Castle. I was figuring my Christmas day would mostly involve me and Lucy building it for him, but it turns out he wanted to do it all by himself. And he did. I was impressed -- those were some long and complicated instructions. He spent hours totally absorbed in building Legos.
By nighttime he'd got the first two towers completed. He's so proud of himself.
And Lucy finished her first ever sewing project, a little felt cat.
The only lame thing that happened on Christmas was that our oven finally gave out for good. No hot rolls, no turkey dinner. But in the grand tradition of A Christmas Story, we made Chinese food instead. Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra, ra Ra Ra Ra! Guess I'll be getting a new range for my birthday.
On the last day of school, Gavin's class put on a performance of the Kindergarten classic "Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts." Gavin was the baker -- it was his job to introduce all the different cookies. The whole thing lasted all of ten minutes. Nothing is sweeter than singing Kindergarteners dressed up as cookies.
With the kids out of school (and some snow on the ground, finally!) Austin was able to get out his new (to us) snowmobile and pull the kids around the field.
The ski helmets, goggles, and balaclavas were perfect for a snowy ride on a beautiful but frigid December day.
I found these fun Gingerbread houses at Costco and we spent an afternoon decorating them. Lucy frosted the front of her "toy shop" house to look like the picture on the box but made the back look like a big red barn. Love it. These kids are such Vermonters -- of course Santa would need a barn to go with his house!
We fed the gingerbread house and barn to the chickens for their special treat on Christmas Day.
We continued our tradition of the Bethlehem Dinner, inviting friends over for a multi-course Middle Eastern dinner (hummus, cheese, grapes and olives, followed by lentil soup, then chicken, tilapia and couscous with olive tapenade, and baklava and fruit for dessert.) Luckily, people in the Middle East eat sitting on the floor, because we don't have a table that could accommodate so many people! After dinner the kids (and a couple of good-sport teenagers) put on the nativity play.
Christmas Day was wonderful. Lucy got a My American Girl doll and a camera from Santa, but her favorite gift seems to have been a sewing kit. She spent most of the day working on sewing projects. 
Gavin got the Lego Hogwarts Castle. I was figuring my Christmas day would mostly involve me and Lucy building it for him, but it turns out he wanted to do it all by himself. And he did. I was impressed -- those were some long and complicated instructions. He spent hours totally absorbed in building Legos.
By nighttime he'd got the first two towers completed. He's so proud of himself.
And Lucy finished her first ever sewing project, a little felt cat.