christmas concert

Jacob had his first Christmas concert on Saturday and as we filed into the room to find seats, I had butterflies in my stomach.  He told me earlier that morning that he didn't think he wanted to sing. I said that was alright; he didn't have to sing but he did have to remember to smile.  He told me later that he learned a "good tip" from his dad, which was to just pretend sing.

He ended up doing a bit of everything: singing, smiling and some very obvious lip syncing.  He also did their little dance moves and shook his Christmas bells while Mr. Andrew played the guitar.  It was the cutest.  My favourite was their warm-up of 'shake your sillies out' and 'we wish you a merry Christmas'.  

After the performance Santa came to say hello.  He talked with Jacob and let him ring his bell before sitting down to hand out presents.  Jacob was thrilled.  Avery sat still for the entire thing.  And we all left bursting with pride and holiday excitement.   

cookie party

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without some cookie decorating so we invited some friends over for the festivities.  There ended up being 7 children (ages 4 and under!) and 4 moms'.  It was terribly fun!  And loud too at times.  The kids played and ate sprinkles and decorated some beautiful cookies.  The moms' drank coffee with bailys and doled out the icing.   

Jacob had so much fun he nearly cried when everyone bundled-up to leave.  So it was a success.  The egg nog sugar cookies were devoured and we'll have another cookie party again soon.    

christmas cheer

We finally got our first snowfall - just a skiff, but well take it - and started to spread a few decorations around.  

Most notably, our Christmas tree!  Our first real one.  A douglass fur. My dad and cousin found it and dragged it out of the forest for us.  Thanks, it's perfect!  But honestly, I do feel a teeny-tiny bit bad we chopped the poor guy down.  Hopefully he always dreamed of becoming a Christmas tree.  And the smell of a real tree cannot be beat.  

   

And a few of our most treasured decorations from travels and friends

And a few craft projects too.  We invited a few of Jacob's friends over to make tissue-paper stained glass windows and they turned out perfectly.