The How-To Instructions of decorating a Gingerbread Train and Train Station with our Girls:

Step 1 – Buy a kit – This Mama thought this was an awesome shortcut.

Step 2 – Lay the pieces out with cute kids

Step 3 – Assemble Structures (maybe next time give the structure without the base to the older kid)

Step 4 – Decorate with icing and candy (best for Mama to apply icing and kids to do candy) – Don’t worry if you don’t use all of the included pieces and decorations, we didn’t.

Emily took all the steps seriously. She wanted the station to resemble the photo on the box and worked to do that

Julia was very emotional about her process. Lots of joy added to the decorating.

Step 5 – Admire your creation with happy grins.

Emily was pleased with how hers turned out. Symmetry was important to her design. When asked which part was her favorite was she said sticking all the candy on.

Julia had a decorating philosophy of just getting stuff stuck on wherever her heart desired. Her favorite piece to decorate were the big wheels and she talked for quite a while about the colors she chose to use.

Step 6 – Repeat next year!

The telling of the birth of Jesus by kids 15 and under is always fun. At some point you learn the art of stage presence, but most haven’t yet. Some of my favorite moments from this year’s Nativity presentation were: Julia’s decision to not stand, baby lamb Thea’s wanderings (so appropriate that she was a sheep, she even said "ba"), one very active camel, and the existence of Magi princesses (I know, who knew – pretty brilliant).

The simple truth is that Jesus loves the children. He loves their simple offerings of joy. We love to watch them offer it!

This is from their practice night. Something about this sweet girl reminds Mama of the Littlest Angel. Nothing could be more sweet than a small angel patiently waiting.

When did this one grow up?

The girls were super excited about decorating the Christmas tree and all the other decorations going up in the house. Some of the fun kids sayings that came out while we did our decorating were Emily asking if we were going to hang the “garlic” this year. She was referring to the garland. Robby and I had to think about it for a while before we decided to correct her term. Although we have continued to refer to the “hanging of the garlic”. The other cute saying was from Julia. She kept asking when we were going to hang the “jewels” and “diamonds” on the tree. It was her words for ornaments, but we loved the idea that to her the ornaments were like diamonds. Now though if you ask her what we hung on the tree she will tell you that it was marshmallows. She must have loved the S’more ornament collection we have on the tree.

Emily mentioned to me the difference in how we decorated something over the last couple of years. I know she loves Christmas and having the decorations, but it was cool that she could remember such detail about what she sees from year to year.

The girls are counting down the days to get to countdown to Christmas. We have an advent wreath we decorate with ornaments and a book a day to read and it all starts on December 1st. They are ready for the excitement to begin!!

The girls loved putting up the tree with Mama and Daddy. They noticed little things that changed about the tree as the season progressed. They were very specific about how their stockings were hung and which one each person should have. We don’t have specific stockings at this point.

They have jammies that they call their “Christmas jammies”. They have been waiting for a whole year to wear them and they were so excited to wear them Christmas Eve. They were good to get Mama and Daddy before they peaked in their stockings.

Our Christmas Dinner – we waited for the girls to have a nap first. Dinner was great and left us with a weeks worth of leftovers.

Julia got a diaper bag full of baby things. She was delighted to stop opening gifts and feed her babies for a while.

Emily was VERY pleased with the Cinderella nightgown that Santa brought her. She asked all day if she could put her nightgown on.

Julia received a cash register toy and her reaction was awesome. She would play with it and discover something and get excited. Then she would play more and then discover something new and get excited again. Christmas is so much fun to watch.

Julia got a Rapunzel nightgown from Santa. She was pleased.

The pictures are a little busy, but this is the girls’ new bunk bed. It is their big Christmas gift from their parents. They got it a few days early because it wasn’t going to be possible for us to get it put together and remain a surprise for Christmas. They were thrilled with it.

Emily is sleeping on the top of the bunk bed. She has graduated to a twin bed. We got her the canopy for the top to help her feel comfortable sleeping so high. Blue is her favorite color so she thinks it is perfect. She has been sleeping really well in it. The first night was a long one because of the excitement of the new bed. But every other night she has slept the whole night with no fear or incidents. She had been in the habit of coming out to the couch to sleep part way through the night and that has stopped. Nap time has gone well too.

Julia is sleeping in the floor space below the bed. We opted to keep her on her toddler mattress. The smaller mattress give her extra space to have some storage cubbies and play space. When she grows longer we will get her a bigger mattress, but until then she can play in her own special area. Julia has been thrilled with her new space too. She struggles with the ladder to climb up to the top, but we are going to get some handles to give her some help. Since the new bed has come she has requested to nap in her own bed instead of the pack ‘n play. The girls have successfully taken naps together since then. They are highly motivated to go to sleep so that no one has to move to the pack ‘n play.

We chose this bunk bed because it was lower to the ground making it’s presence in the room less overwhelming. Because the girls are younger it makes the transition easier too. The new bed has allowed the play table to be put in their room which they have really liked. Sometime in the near future they will both get new bedspreads that their Mama is making for them.

This year the girls participated for the first time in our church nativity program. They got to pick what supporting part they were going to play. They seemed indecisive about their choice until Mama told them what their best friends would be. That clinched it – ANGELS! The girls only went to the practice on the day of the nativity because all they needed to do was stand there and look angelic. Grammy gave each girl their “angel hair”. The curls seemed to make them extra angelic. We had been practicing the songs at home and neither girl was interested in singing them. Emily at one point told us she wasn’t going to sing at the program. When the time came though they were both singing with the songs. I guess they picked up more than they were letting on.

The program was sweet, and we’re glad the girls got to participate and did well. There was no jumping off the stage, crying, or impromptu talking. For part of the time they sweetly held hands with each other and their friends.

Little Angelic one!

Our Sweet Angels!