Day 22: Visiting with Family

This is my favourite part of the holidays, and because we were a little nervous to leave home with baby so close to coming, and our families live rather far away, we missed out on a lot of our family get-togethers.

It was so nice to have Grams and Papa up for a few days. It made it seem more like Christmas.

We decorated cookies, while the boys went out and started/ hopefully finished Christmas shopping :)

Gracie took her sprinkle-adding job very seriously. There were many piles of sprinkles on each cookie.

See??

After that, we played tea party for awhile, had a fantastic supper, provided by Grams, and visited.

Grams and Papa read Gracie her Christmas book of the night.

And then Magoo went to bed and we all played board games and cards. Such fun!

Day 21: More Baking

Yep, I take Doctor's orders very seriously.... 

today we baked sugar cookies for Santa. Of course, we made an ice cream pail full for us to snack on and share with other people, too.

All of these pictures are blurry, because it takes a little bit of hands on help to cut sugar cookies when you're three. Every time I pulled back to take a picture, she started madly half-cutting the dough.

The cutting went well all in all.

We were all set for an afternoon of decorating cookies with Grams the next day. 

Day 20: Baking Cookies

More Christmas Baking!! 

'Tis the season for gratitude and sugar! Apparently these are the things I value.

:)

Actually, the doctor told me on the 20th, that I hadn't gained any weight for the past two weeks, so I was 'free to enjoy Christmas.'

I took this to mean, 'go home immediately, and start baking... and eating.'

Luckily, my little helper loved the idea.

While I prepped, she played the measuring spoons for me.

Then she got right in there and started stirring.

 After they were baked, we got to decorate. We used marshmallows (Gracie's favourite), crushed candy canes, craisins, hazelnuts, and some oreo sprinkles.

And by the end of an afternoon, we had millions of little two bite brownie style cookies with extra fixin's. Yum!!

Day 19: The Day of Giving

Merry Christmas!!!

These are behind, so we're still on Dec. 19th, even though it's actually The BIG Day!!

I've tried to make this holiday season about a little more than just getting gifts.... Gracie gets so many gifts, and sometimes, I think the holidays blend together in a blur of sugar, presents and excitement.

I tried to teach Gracie the joy of giving and gratitude this year, but she's pretty young for that concept, so we're starting slow. 

Today, she learned the joy of giving.

She gave her little bestie a gift that she picked out and wrapped herself (with some help, as you saw, yesterday).

And her face was priceless. Her reaction made Gracie feel pretty good, and to be honest, it made me smile, too. Kids are so innocent and open.

Then she donated to charity, to help other people that may not have all of the luxuries that we have this time of year. The lady volunteering for the Salvation Army made her feel pretty good about herself. We've tried to complete a few Random Acts of Kindness throughout the season ourselves, but it was nice to see Gracie getting involved.

Interruption of the 31 Days of December, Malacko Style

Just a quick note wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful festive season. 

Hope you're enjoying it with friends and family and staying warm. 

There is still no Malacko Baby, but I've been assured that she will arrive by next weekend (or that's when I'll be induced anyway). 

Of course, my first contractions arrived on Dec. 4, which were convincing enough for me to call my husband home from work in High River at 4:30 am. They promptly came screeching to a halt about two minutes after he walked in the door.

The Dr. told me that the baby would be here within the week after that. Now, the due date has come and gone, and we're still waiting. 

Hmmmm.... 

We'll see when she arrives. 

As everyone keeps saying, maybe we'll have the New Year's Baby.

Day 18: Wrapping Presents

On the 18th, we wrapped presents. Gracie was a big help. She especially liked the tape dispenser. Some of the gifts may go out laminated with scotch tape, but they will be sealed.

PS. Don't get your husband to take candid pictures of you while you're 9 months pregnant.... unless you are consciously posing for a photo and trying to keep your best angle forward, you will end up cropping as much of yourself out of the photo as possible.

Sorry Brad, not your fault. 

Day 17: Christmas Book Advent Calendar

This year, we started another new tradition, a Christmas Book Advent Calendar. It's sort of like our version of the 12 Days of Christmas. Since Gracie had quite a few Christmas books from the past few years, I wrapped her old ones and a few new ones, and she gets to open one each night before bed. Then, we read a new Christmas story every night. 

As the year's go on, we might get enough to do it right from December 1st. We'll see.

Here's Gracie's little reading nook, and her teetering stack of Christmas books.

Choosing is a very tough decision sometimes.

She picked a new one. I got this little set thinking it would cover half the month, but each book is like a page of the story, so she lucked out and got the whole set today!

 Here she is doing a little jig with her new books.

Day 16: Lights and more Skates

Mr. Grinch himself finally agreed to put up a few lights for me this year. 

On his behalf, we do have a hard house to decorate and there's so much snow, it's hard to put much out on the lawn.

Afterwards, we had another great afternoon of skating with another group of friends. 

See how good she's getting??

Even skating with her little buddy, Sebastien.

And full of smiles after.

Day 15: Skating Party

On the 15th, we went to a skating party for Gracie's friend's birthday! 

It was such a nice day, on a great outdoor rink, with good friends. 

Day 14: Video from Santa

Gracie was so lucky! Santa sent her a video on the 14th. She got to see the workshop and the reindeer and even her book, which told her that she'd been good this year! 

She was so excited!

Here's a few clips of her watching her movie message.

And a few disclaimers, first, she just got out of the tub, we usually brush her hair...
second, sorry for the flashes, I was trying to get a picture to use in our book
third, they're 2 minutes a piece, so if you're short on time, check out the second one.

Day 13: Christmas Crafts

Gracie loves crafts and there's no better time of year than Christmas for fun projects!

On the 13th, we decorated little Christmas trees with buttons, glitter glue, glitter tape, and eventually, tiny pieces of paper that Gracie cut.

Day 12: Playing in the Snow

Nothing says holiday season like piles of fluffy snow, and we've got quite a bit this year, all ready. 

Brad and Gracie are making a pile in the backyard to turn into a fort later, but until then, it's a batter's box

a slide, 

and a great big mound of fun, until it gets down your shirt...

But, they don't seem to mind!