We went to see Santa as a surprise activity after church one Sunday. It was a sunny and warm day. We had to stand in line for about 30 minutes to see Santa at a local nursery. They had reindeer to see and the girls enjoyed wandering among the trees too. Santa was visiting in his sleigh. We asked Julia if she wanted to sit with Santa and she said “no”. She was willing to sit next to him if she sat with Mama though. Both girls took turns talking to Santa. Emily went first and was willing to talk his hear off. Julia told Santa several things she was interested in too.

They enjoyed themselves a lot. We do need to make a repeat visit to see him because Emily wanted to refine what she wants.

The Tappan family and Edwards family have a holiday tradition of watching the Nutcracker ballet together during the holiday season. This year we went to the daytime school presentation of the Nutcracker. It turned out that the presentation fell on Maeve’s birthday so it was part of her celebration. Ashley picked back row seats so our active kids wouldn’t disturb any others.

Both of our girls made it through the performance watching with interest. During the intermission the Sugar Plum Fairy came out to tell the kids about the story. She, also with the help of the the Nutcracker prince, demonstrated a pantomime. The pantomime told the story of the Nutcracker’s fight with the King Rat and Clara’s assistance. The girls enjoyed doing it with them. We have repeatedly acted out the pantomime (with words too). The favorite part is the “rat face”. When we decorated the Christmas tree and the girls found our nutcracker character set of nutcracker ornaments. The girls were so excited. We have heard Julia say “King Rat” a lot lately.

It is so much fun to have great memories from holiday activities!

This is our version of the rat face.

Where is the best place to take a nap? How about right next to the Christmas tree. Emily decided to finish out her nap by the tree.

The girls got a dollhouse and kitchen this year as their “big” gifts. The dollhouse is a remodeled version of my childhood dollhouse that my Grandparents built and decorated for me. Both girls love their gifts. When they saw the dollhouse for the first time, Julia went running for it and Emily just stopped and stared at it taking it all in. I have loved listening to all of the conversations that have occurred in the dollhouse between it’s inhabitants. There isn’t a piece that hasn’t been inspected, used, and sometimes even repurposed. It has also been an opportunity to learn about sharing.

While we have had kitchen toys and appliances, this new kitchen has been quite a hit. The sink and oven have been a great fascination. It is perfectly sized for Julia and it shows as she has become the master chef. She has been baking lots of cupcakes – she puts on her oven mit, places the tray in the oven, adjusts the temperature, opens the oven, removes the tray (still wearing the oven mit), places candles, and delivers the yummy treats.

I see hours of play hidden in each dollhouse room and in the kitchen appliances. What joy!

The girls and Mama visited Dollywood just before Christmas. It was a cold day, but we were bundled up and seemed to always have one more layer we could put on. Like usual the girls wanted to ride the carousel first. You have to hold tight when you are wearing mittens.

We then continued on to ride the young kid rides. Emily loves to make friends with other kids when we are at parks, and this trip to Dollywood was no different. She and a six-year old became best friends on the first ride. Emily cried when we got to the second ride because her new friend wasn’t riding in the same pig. She moved to join us. But it didn’t matter how good friends they were, nothing could get Emily to ride the bumblebee ride. On the other hand, Julia was thrilled to ride the bumblebee ride. They said good-bye to their new friend as she went on to ride the bigger rides. While Emily was unwilling to ride the flying bumblebee, she requested to try the Ferris wheel. I’m not sure that she would really be able to handle it, it will have to wait for a day with Daddy.

The girls discovered a mural wall that they could color. It was a blast and will be inspiring our own at-home version. Mama isn’t going nuts, but I’m going to give it a try and hope all the walls in our house don’t turn into murals.

We have been visiting Dollywood for months now and have never gone to a show. Between the cold weather, more kid-interesting shows, and a desire to take off some of our layers encouraged us that direction. We saw “Babies in Toyland” and found it to hold the girls interest. An hour was a long time for them, but it was fun.

We hope to go back one more time with Daddy before the year ends for more fun!

We celebrated Christmas with extended family who visited for the holiday. We attempted a family photo and ended up with this awesome photo. I think the fact we got all the adults to look at the camera at the same time and not blink was a success and then adding Caleb’s expressive face to the mix made it over the top. Maybe one day the younger ones will want to look at the camera.

In the photo: Don Lieder, Ann Lieder, Jennifer Reichle, Philip Reichle, Joyce Reichle, Robby Edwards, Rachelle Edwards, Phil Reichle, Caleb, Nataniel, Emily, and Julia.