Before Christmas

Before Christmas is--by far--my favorite time of the year.  And this year, we had the most Christmassy lead-up to December 25 we've had in a long time!

 

There were lots of visits with Santa,

 

At our mall

 

At a mall halfway between our house and Auntie Anita's

At Burnaby Village

Eric wanted to be sure Santa knew what he wanted for Christmas, and I think by the time the big day came he was satisfied that he'd get his "up-and-down Rubble" (which--as I had to explain to Santa each time--was a version of the Paw Patrol character "Rubble" that had a crane that could actually move "up and down").

 

We also had lots of music concerts,

 

 

Janae's fourth time playing at a piano Christmas recital ("Deck the Halls" this year),

 

 

and Alaina's second year for this (she played "Jingle Bells").

 

Ben played "Go Tell It On the Mountain" at his recital.

 

Janae also played at her first violin concert--"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," or--as her teacher would say--one of her "Twinkles" :)

 

 

We had a school Christmas concert with lots of singing ("Little Snowflake" and "Blitzen's Boogie" were some of Alaina's, and Janae sang "Hot Chocolate" with her class).

 

And--for the first time in many years--we also had lots of snow that wasn't going anywhere. 

 

We're talking enough snow to pull our kids down the road on a sled,

 

 

slide down the hill at the park and school,

 

 

build a snow mouse,

 

 

or even a real snow MAN.

 

 

And enough snow to take beautiful pictures in fancy dresses after church,

 

 

or perform an impromptu violin concert for the neighbors and make it look good.

 

 

We also had lots of time together as a family, since our kids finished school a whole week before Christmas, and Jason couldn't do any landscaping with all that snow around.

 

 

 

A few days before Christmas we went to Burnaby Village for a Heritage Christmas. 

 

 

We all rode the carousel this time,

 

 

 

and stayed late enough to see some of the beautiful Christmas lights. 

 

 

 

I also felt very Christmassy working late at night on a special gift for my girls' dolls.  Alaina had asked Santa to bring her some books for her American Girl doll, so--with the help of some very crafty people who put patterns online--I was able to make these little doll-sized books while my girls were sleeping. 

 

 

On Christmas Eve., Eric was dressed up like Santa, filling up a bag with toys, and putting things beside each person's bed.  It reminded me so much of when Ben was little and loved to pretend to be Santa.

 

 

 

 

Then finally even HE was asleep,

 

 

and not a creature was stirring . . . except maybe this one :)