The Sunday before Christmas, Chloe and Evan sang in a Wee Warriors Christmas program at church. It was a short and sweet performance during praise and worship.
They sang Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas during the first and second service.
It was so cute, especially as the children began to notice that they were on the big screens behind them during the second service. They would periodically turn around to check themselves out.
Watching them sing in the glory of Him and the birth of Jesus was a precious sight. Merry Christmas!
The littles and I recently went to watch the Montgomery Ballet's performance of "The Nutcracker".
You may remember from last year's post that I had decided that this would become a mother-daughter tradition every year while Daddy and son spent some quality time together. However, Evan begged to go to the ballet with us this year, and I couldn't say "no".
Chris decided to work with his Aunt and Uncle on this day, since the littles and I had our breakfast with Santa in the morning and the ballet in the afternoon, so there was no one to take a picture of the three of us before we left the house. However, I did manage to take a couple of cute pictures of Chloe and Evan under the marquee.
Afterwards, we used our Sugar Plum Fairy Party tickets to meet a few of the dancers.
We met Clara...
The Snow Queen...
The Sugar Plum Fairy, who noticed Chloe's Nutcracker dress:)....
and the Arab Dancer
As I expected, Evan really enjoyed the ballet. I guess this will become our annual mother-daughter-son date:)
The littles recently got the pleasure of eating breakfast with Santa!
They were so excited. Here they are eagerly waiting for Santa to come sit with us at our table.
They ate a yummy four cheese souffle while we waited.
Chloe brought the letter to Santa that she had written at school earlier in the week and she couldn't wait to show him. It's not perfect, but the fact that she is in Kindergarten and can write a letter amazes me.
Finally, it was our turn! We really didn't wait long at all, but to the littles it seemed like an eternity.
Santa was so sweet and attentive. He read Chloe's letter and talked to Evan about what he wanted for Christmas. The sweetest moment was when Evan began singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and all three of them broke out in song in the middle of Panera Bread.
We took a final posed picture.
Then, Santa suggested that I get in the picture and he would have one of his elves take a picture of all four of us.
Did you know that Santa is my boyfriend?!! I can't help but laugh every time that I see this picture. The way that I'm standing in this picture makes it appear that we're having a family outing with my "older" husband! Chris didn't find this picture quite as amusing...
All joking aside, Santa was very sweet to suggest that I also be in the picture. Moms end up stuck behind the camera so much of the time.
Watching the interaction between the littles and Santa made this momma's day. It's so nice to see Christmas through my children's eyes.
Every December, Lola (my mom) brings the littles to our local mall to see Santa and take pictures. It is their Christmas tradition.
I was so impressed with this year's pictures! The first one was my favorite of the bunch.
Here are a few from the past few years. Lola never forces the littles to sit with Santa, so there were a few years where Chloe took the picture with Santa by herself.
2013
2012
2011
(I don't have digital images of the previous years' pictures. Maybe one day I'll get them scanned, since this seems to be the best way for me to keep our photos organized.)
Sadly, I learned that my favorite Santa, pictured with Chloe in 2011 and 2012, recently passed. Please say a prayer for his family. He brought joy to so many children and adults! I'm sure that he is in Heaven smiling down on all of us as we enjoy this holiday season. Merry Christmas!!
The littles spent a weekend with Nana & Granddaddy in the county over the holidays.
Nana shared these pictures of their visit with me...
Starting on December 1st, the littles and I read a Christmas book every night until Christmas. (I'm sure that many of you have seen this idea on Pinterest.) Since Chloe and Evan were spending the weekend at Nana and Granddaddy's, they decided to bring the books that they would miss reading at the house with them to the country.
This picture was taken one morning before heading to church with Nana and Granddaddy. I'm guessing that Granddaddy was the picture-taker;)
Nana took these pictures of the littles by the barn, and, oh my word! I know where we'll be taking our Christmas card pictures next year. We didn't get around to making cards this year, so I'm bound and determined to have them ready by the first week of December next year!
Every year since the littles were old enough to hold a rolling pin, they
have baked Christmas cookies with Nana. Aunt Sara usually participates
in this annual Christmas tradition, but she was caring for fiance, Rob, after
his hip surgery, so she missed it this year. I wasn't there, so I'll let these pictures tell the story...
So there you have it, a country Christmas with Nana and Granddaddy! I love these family traditions and love watching them evolve over the years and the memories being created.
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