christmastime is here

happiness and cheer!

(kaleb decorating cookies last night...thanks, eric, for the hands-on help. it was a mess!)

fun for all that children call their favorite time of year

(carmencita came over for the evening, and the girls HAD A BLAST!)

snowflakes in the air (just for pretend. it's 80 degrees.) carols everywhere.

(kaleb's only cookie was eaten immediately.)

olden times and ancient rhymes of love and dreams to share.

(the girls were so proud of their work. and hungry to eat their favorite cookie.)

carmencita's favorite

and ellie's

it was a great night of dress-up and baby dolls and a bubble bath and falling asleep to tangled - well, ellie fell asleep anyway. we loved having a friday-night playdate!

and today was the kids' christmas programs at school. two different ones for their two different classes. kaleb was to arrive at 4.45 for a 5pm program, and ellie at 5.45 for a 6pm program. or so i thought.

that's right. i got a call at 4.15 from the assistant director confirming we were coming. "yes. we'll be there in just a bit." i said. "oh, ok. because the toddler class performance starts now, at 4.15." holy cow! throw on clothes! brush some hair! skip brushing teeth! kaleb got shoes/socks in the car. and actually was only halfway buckled i realized as we leapt from the car at school.

it was ok. he didn't want to perform anyways. he and i sat off to the side watching his classmates sing and dance. and then he was scared of santa - not such a bad thing, i suppose.

and then he hammed it up outside with ellie for some pictures between performances. ellie helped him open his gift from santa.

"look. i got a book from that man over there."

and then came ellie's performance...this was the one i was waiting for. last year, she stood silent from start to finish. and this year, she'd been so excited about things, and even came home this week and told me she had a surprise at the end of the show. and she was good not to give it away. but i feared she'd get cold feet again.

she observed to make sure everyone stood in their place in line. 

and sung and signed with the songs. and then the surprise at the end - she was the statue of liberty for the national anthem! she did such a great job!

santa came after her performance as well. she was nice and polite, but not overly friendly. again, just fine by me. we had refreshments with classmates and families before heading home to eat dinner. such a great weekend celebrating the friendliness of the season!