I can't believe Christmas is this week.  I remember as a kid, it felt like it took Christmas forever to arrive.  As an adult (and as a parent), it feels like there aren't enough days leading up to Christmas.  Christmas literally sneaks up on you so fast.

We're all ready for Christmas at our house, and anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival.  Katherine loves Santa.  As we were walking through Target the other day, Katherine spotted an older man with a white beard restocking the shelves in his Target red shirt.  When we passed by him she shouted, "Hi Santa!"  I don't think he was amused.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we didn't decorate as much around the house as usual this year.  There's been a lot going on and curious little hands like to touch everything.  Here's a brief look at some of our holiday decor this year:





(See our Christmas decorations from two years ago here.)

It was cookie central in our house over the weekend, as I went crazy baking cookies to take to our friends and family.  Our cookie extravaganza included iced sugar cookies, chocolate peppermint cookies, Snicker cookies, and gingerbread cookies.  I probably sampled 2-3 cookies from each batch.  I'm still on a sugar high.  

Because this time of year can get very busy, I'm trying to slow down and not stress over little things.  Like, for instance, Jason's head being cut off on our Christmas cards.  Seriously.  How did that even happen?  Nothing else to do but send them out anyway.  Oh well.  If you received our Christmas card this year, I apologize for Jason's lack of forehead.
Not to mention my phone decided to try and end it's own life this week.  The poor thing is literally on it's last leg.  I'm hoping it will survive until after Christmas is over.  Buying a new phone isn't exactly in the Christmas budget this late in the game.

I'm feeling extra blessed this year and can't wait to see Katherine's face on Christmas morning.  She really seems to be getting into the holidays, singing songs and "performing" daily.  I recently got my old wooden microphone out for her.  When I was around her age my grandfather made me a wooden microphone on a stand because, much like Katherine, I liked to sing songs and perform for the family.  It turns out, Katherine loves singing into the microphone as well.  I only wish my grandfather was here to see and hear her sing "Let It Go" over and over and over and over....
I briefly had to take away her microphone privileges and have a talk with her about how the microphone is not to be used as a weapon, and swinging it around the dogs was not acceptable behavior.  She has since learned how to respectfully use the microphone.

A bonus Katherine story:  We like to play the "who's is this?" game when I fold the laundry, and Katherine tells me who's clothing item I'm folding.  As we were walking through Target (the same trip as the Santa innocent), Katherine sees a rack of yoga pants and points to it shouting "Mommy's!"  Does this mean I wear yoga pants to often?    

I'm now going to finish wrapping Christmas presents while continuously watching sappy Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.

A couple of weekends back, we met with Amber of Amber Potter Photography at the park to take our very first professional pictures as a family.  It was a cold, drizzly Saturday morning but some how our photos turned out amazing.

I spent a week deciding what we would wear, only to have to layer our outfits, covering up the originally clothes I had picked out.  Oh well.  Our photos turned out so great, I barely even notice what we're wearing anyway.











I'm so, so happy with the way these turned out.  I spent two hours picking out and ordering prints for our family, only to realize after the fact that I had forgotten to order prints for ourselves.  I guess that gives me more time to decide which ones I want to print.

(Insert long sigh here.)  I can't believe Christmas is next week.  While I promised myself I wouldn't get stressed out during the holiday season, the craziness has crept up again like it does every year.

We're busy checking things off of our Christmas to-do list, including visits with Santa, Winter Wonderland Christmas lights, and gingerbread house decorating.

Last week was Jason's birthday, so I ordered him a cheesecake from Top Tier Cheesecakes (his favorite).  Oh my goodness it was good.  If you're in the St. Louis area (or even if you're not, they deliver!!) you must try them.  Nothing like a birthday cheesecake to start off the holiday eating season.

On Friday, after a loooooong day of shopping I brought home a gingerbread house kit for Katherine.  She actually loved it.  Most of the candy ended up on the house.  Only some of it ended up in her mouth.  I think she liked the candy as much as she liked decorating the house.  I can't wait to carry on this tradition with her in the years to come.



Another one of our favorite Christmas activities is watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Katherine loves Snoopy and Charlie Brown.  She calls them "Soupy" and "Jim."  I don't know where she gets "Jim," but she calls Charlie Brown Jim.  Whatever.  Anyway, Katherine loves A Charlie Brown Christmas and always asks to watch it.  So, we've watched "Soupy" and "Jim" a lot this week.

On Saturday, we went to Afternoon with Santa where we had pancakes, decorated a Christmas cookie, and of course, saw Santa (for the second time this week).  We saw Santa earlier in the week at the mall.  Katherine is a huge fan of Santa this year.  She talks about him all the time, so seeing him twice in one week was a great idea in her eyes.


On Sunday night, we checked another item off of our Christmas tradition list by going to see the Winter Wonderland lights.  Katherine absolutely loved it, and the 60 degree weather was great too.

Next on our Christmas checklist is baking Christmas cookies, watching Christmas Vacation, and seeing the Singing Christmas Tree at church next weekend.  I absolutely love Katherine at this age.  Everything is so exciting for her.  I love how her little mind works.  Christmas is going to be so much fun this year!

Every year I tell myself that I won't let the holidays stress me out.  Every year I say this, but every year I strive to make everything perfect and exhaust myself.

This year it has been a little more hectic around here, leading to some holiday decorations not being put out and some holiday "extravagants" not being too extravagant.  The Christmas lights didn't get put on the house this year, and yet the sun still rises each morning.  Only a small portion of the Christmas village was put out this year, and Christmas will still come.

Some things will be different this year.  For instance we will not be in Kennett for Christmas for the first time in my thirty-one years.  While it is a little sad, I'm excited for Jason and I to start new Christmas traditions in our home, in St. Louis.

One of our Christmas traditions is my ballet studio putting on our annual Christmas dance "recital."  This happens every year around the first weekend in December, and today was that day.  Last year, Katherine enjoyed the music and dancers, but hated Fredbird (who is always in attendance).  We worked on her dislike of Fredbird all  year.  We read Hello Fredbird.  We pointed him out at baseball games.  She seemed to love him.  Today she enjoyed seeing him from across the room, but when he came closer she freaked.  So, no picture with Fredbird.  This does not give me high hopes for our visit with Santa later this week.

Yesterday, we spent the day taking professional family photos.  It was freezing, but my hot natured child didn't notice and played along with our crazy idea to "walk" in the park while a photographer snapped photos of us.  I hope they turned out alright, despite our red noses.  Afterwards, we stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch where Katherine continued to ham it up for the camera.

On Friday night, Katherine and I finally finished watching Peter Pan Live.  Because it was 3 whole hours long, we watched it in hour long increments.  Katherine actually watched and enjoyed it.  She loved Hook or "Huck" as she says it.  Watching Christopher Walken play Captain Hook was kind of brutal for me, but Katherine loved it.  She's very into pirates right now,  Thanks Jake.   (If you're not sure who Jake is, ask anyone with a toddler who watches Disney Junior.)
I'm always sad to see a weekend go, especially in December when I feel like they're numbered and always packed with activities.  I'm going to take on the week ahead by being as productive as possible, but not overwhelming myself and loosing the Christmas spirit.  Good luck.