The Third and Fourth Weeks of Advent

Sunday, December 14: The Third Sunday of Advent, JOY!

Both girls are wearing red velvet dresses that were "Mama Wore That."  (Clara's is way too short, but that's another story.  It SAID size 3!!).  

  

Here's me, in Eloise's dress, my first Christmas.  Since our birthdays are so close, we're basically the exact same age here.

Here is Clara wearing that same dress, her first Valentine's Day.

It was the big Christmas music at church this Sunday, so Clara's advent calendar said "Go to Big Church!"  She did a great job of sitting through the service.

And because I'm on a bit of a video kick, here's Clara reading The Night Before Christmas to Eloise that night. (Sorry for subpar videography; I was holding a baby and turning pages...)

Monday, December 15: Make cards and ornaments to deliver to friends.  I didn't get a picture of her doing this, but she did.  She had lots of fun writing many Christmas cards this year.  I did get a picture of this though (pretty cute, huh?)

Tuesday, December 16: Go visiting!  We had originally planned to go visit some church members in a local retirement home, but heard that there was a great deal of sickness, so we decided to avoid that community and instead visited a few individuals in their homes and took goodies to our neighbors.

 Wednesday, December 17: Christmas Jazz Concert at KBC

Sweet Mama sang a few solos and we enjoyed hearing a wonderful jazz band play some of our favorite Christmas songs.  She got a little bit of a second wind at the end.... Here was some "dancing" with a few of her preschool friends.

Wednesday morning, I had a chance to have a few mom friends over for coffee.  It was an excuse for me to get out some of my Christmas china in a life-stage dominated by sippy cups and plastic spoons.

 Thursday, December 18: Beech Mountain with Big Daddy

On Thursday, we headed up to Beech Mountain to celebrate Christmas with Big Daddy and the Davis cousins.  All the girls had lots of presents to open and had fun being together.

 Trying out their new board games..

Friday, December 19: Candyland Day at CUMP (and class Christmas party)

I must say over and over again how thankful we are for these two ladies who love, teach, and care for Clara three mornings a week.  They are an incredible blessing!

 Her preschool went all out for this special last day of school and transformed the entire school into a full sized Candyland.  Here are just a few of the photos which do not really do it justice.

Saturday, December 20: Go see The Nutcracker (for the very first time!)

I was dreadfully afraid that we were going to miss this because Clara came down with a stomach bug Friday afternoon, but we were able to get her well enough and I'm so thankful.  She's been talking about the Nutcracker all Christmas and we've been reading books and listening to the music and enjoying private dance recitals in our living room.  She was so so excited.  It had been more than ten years since I'd seen it myself, and it was a really magical afternoon.  Here she is, in her Nutcracker dress at the Steven's Center for her first really big girl performance.

*****

The Fourth Week of Advent

Good thing that the fourth week of Advent was really short this year, because between illnesses and general exhaustion, we were just worn out.  We kind of puttered to a close with the last few days of Advent.

Sunday, December 21: This was supposed to be Agape (one of my most favorite KBC traditions), but Clara was not quite 100% so we didn't want to risk spreading germs to anyone, just in case.  Instead we stayed home and wrapped presents.  Clara wrapped with gusto, if not perfection.

 

Monday, December 22:  Annnnnnd.... Mama and Daddy both got the stomach bug.  It's bad enough when a sickness circulates throughout the family, but the mom and dad are not supposed to both get sick at the same time.  Thank goodness for Sweet Mama.  There are no pictures of that day.  You're welcome.

Tuesday, December 23:  One of the greatest joys of living in the same town where I grew up is that around the holidays I sometimes get to visit with friends from long ago.  Roshan comes home several times a year to see his parents and his sweet niece and nephew (maybe his sister too), so we lucked out and got a visit this Christmas.  He brought his nephew, Janak, along and he and Clara had a ball while Roshan and I caught up. 

Next up: Christmas Eve!