Day 11: Decorating Sugar Cookies

We got together with some friends to decorate sugar cookies on Day 11, and everyone had a sugary, good time!

Concentration

Sampling

And full-on gorging happened throughout the afternoon, but the kids had fun and made some pretty impressive cookies.

Gracie was cleaning some of the excess sprinkles off her plate at the end of the day and Berlyn asked if she could help :) 

These ladies work hard, too! Check out the clean up crew.

All of the decorators with their bounty.

Day 10

I'm falling behind...

Day 10, we admired the tree and added some wrapped presents!

It's starting to look more festive around here!!!!

Day 9: Christmas Baking

We tried a new little treat for the Christmas season. It turned out okay based on a small sample, but I don't know if we'll do it again. I have too many other favourites, I don't think it made the annual, must-make list, but we had fun.

My little mixer was working hard.

And enjoyed licking the spatula, after we were all done.

But, she was back to work when the treat was made. Look at that face? She looks excited to be wiping the counter, doesn't she?

And, the final product:

Chocolate, Oreo, Almond Bark.

Day 8 - Christmas Lights

Maisie's Magical House on 97th St. in Edmonton, is always a fun stop on our Christmas season experience list. 

You really can't imagine how impressive it is, until you walk through the yard and look in the windows. The whole place is decorated. Nobody lives there, they just use it as a real life gingerbread house of lights. I took this one from across the street to try and get it all in. See Brad, Gracie, GG and Grand Dad??

A few detail shots of the display.

Gracie watching the train setup in one of the windows.

And reading with Santa.

Santa and Rudolph with the sleigh.

And the four of us (3 1/2?) enjoying the lights.

Day 7: Christmas Party

Brad's ERT Christmas Party

Day 7, Brad and I went to an adult Christmas party, all by ourselves.... whoa! I know. 

I can honestly say now, that at 9 months pregnant, I went to a Christmas party that the police showed up at :) 

And I'm not even talking about the ones on the invite list. 

Okay, so they were friends called in as a joke, but it's the closest I've been to any kind of wild behaviour lately, so I'm taking it.

Of course, Gracie had a fun night with my friend, Lacey and later, GG and Grand Dad, so she had fun, too.

Day 5 and 6

Day 5

Gracie's Advent House

She loves opening doors each day and finding her special treat. This is one of the highlights of the season for her each year and it is really helping her with her numbers. This year, especially she not only knows what the numbers are, but likes to count the ones (1, 10, 11...21) or twos and count the days left on the calendar.

Day 6

Gracie and I decorated the house for Christmas. 

These are just some of my favourite decorations.

Letter to Santa, Day 4

This is the first time we've written a letter to Santa. Last year, Gracie made a list, but we didn't send it to the Big Guy. 

We had a few practice runs, because she really changes her mind every day and anything you suggest, she says yes to. This was our final attempt. I think these are things that she wants, because they kept coming up. 

She wrote that all by herself. Wink.

We've been working on the fireworks issue, and I think she is okay now. She understands that there will not be fireworks under the tree for her, but if we see that someone is having a firework display, we will definitely go see it (If anyone knows of something in the Edmonton area, please, let me know).

I thought it was sweet that she constantly wanted to mention her baby sister on her list. I like to think that it's because she wants her baby sister to have nice things, but it could also be that she wants her baby sister to have her own things, so she won't steal hers.....

Back to the letter.

All addressed and ready to go!

Apparently, there's a controversy with Canada Post requiring postage on these letters this year, but I figured I'd throw 61 cents at them, either way, since they're operating on a mind-boggling deficit as of late. 

But I digress, again.

Marching to the mailbox.

I'm not sure why, but I love this photo, below. 

 And, because I was a little taken aback by her reaction at the Christmas party, (recap: "I wanted fireworks, not this!") we wrote a Blessings list, too. I thought it couldn't hurt to acknowledge all of the things that she all ready has that she loves.

We'll see if that rubs off on her this year. I think it will be something we do each year, though. Maybe as she gets older it will keep sinking in.

In fact, I think I'll write one, too. We discussed it, while we worked on hers, but it should be written down, too. Sometimes, I forget how lucky we are.