We went to the same library celebration that we went to last year where we got to meet Santa. They have little crafts to do, food, choirs and performances, and of course, Santa. I didn't know how Brooklyn would react this year since last year she was pretty freaked out, even with her dad being Santa, but she walked right up and sat on his lap!
Since this is our first Christmas without Holly, I wanted to pack in lots of activities to keep us busy. Plus, someone had shown us a kids version of the Church's Light the World calendar and I wanted to do as many of those as we could. For one of the service ones, I saw a website that showed where you could make and send cards to cheer up kids in hospitals around the country. I thought it was a fabulous idea and so we made cards one night for FHE and put jokes inside them. Sometimes I don't think I'm very good at art and other times I really surprise myself. I had so much fun drawing these Disney characters and was super proud of myself! Kaylee also drew this little Olaf that I thought she did a really good job on. Hopefully some kid somewhere will like them too! It was a fun project and I could see us making that a fun tradition.
Another thing that I was so proud of myself for was finishing McKenna's stocking. Even with me not working on it for a few months with our move, it took me less than a year and it was my first cross-stitch project in YEARS (and definitely the biggest one I have ever attempted). Now I just have to keep motivated to make 4 more!
We found lots of fun Christmas activities around Columbus to keep our minds off of the fact that we weren't with family. We went and saw Christmas lights three different times at places all around the city, saw the huge holiday train setup at the downtown library, went to the Conservatory where they have giant poinsettia trees and a gingerbread house competition, and went to the Museum of Art.
We also tried to do all kinds of traditional things at home like make sugar cookies, making gingerbread houses, cutting out paper snowflakes, doing a few crafts Mom had sent us, sleeping under the Christmas tree, acting out the nativity, etc. I thought we would be really sad and lonely but we kept so busy that it helped us not think about it as much. I'll have to remember that for next year!
This was the first year that I thought the girls should get each other presents, but I didn't want them to spend money. So I told them to make a thoughtful gift for each other. McKenna wasn't really into the idea and made something super quick. Kaylee on the other hand was super excited and really tried hard to think of something thoughtful for her sisters. She made a badge/button thing for Brooklyn to pin on her shirt and then made this super cute cat for Kenna. She was SO excited to give it to her and I was super proud of her for working hard on it and making it personal and thoughtful!
I was feeling so happy and Christmas-y all season and we had really tried hard to focus more on giving and Christ. I was so content on Christmas Eve and had that feeling of "Nothing can go wrong, everything is amazing and I could feel this way forever!" And then we woke up on Christmas... that feeling left SO fast as we had kids whining about what they got or asking for more presents or fighting over things they just got. ~sigh~ At least it lasted for a little while. But it makes me realize so much more what is REALLY important at that time of year!
Richard took Kaylee and McKenna each on a date during the break. McKenna chooses the pet store every single time, even though Richard tries to talk her out of it. But it's what makes her happy! And Kaylee chose to go roller skating. She is getting pretty good!
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