PreChristmas Christmas

Let's see... I shared about Thanksgiving, and the snow, and today I wanted to talk about the rest of the Christmas festivities that took place before we left for Texas because there were plenty, and I don't want to let the memories slip away.

First off we went to the Holiday Junction at Union Terminal twice for free (thanks to Duke Energy discounts). The train displays were amazing and the kids got to ride on a mini train through a scenic "snowy mountain".

We unexpectedly ran into Santa one day and Z and SJ wanted to see him. SJ was wearing a wonder woman dress and spiderman mask for her photo. The museum employees got a good laugh out of it.

 I usually don't have much of an explanation for why SJ dresses the way she does, but in this case we had taken our family Christmas card photo and it involved Super Hero costumes and she didn't want to change. I 'll reveal our Christmas card later, but for now here is an outtake. 

 The kids had all kinds of fun things going on at their schools. SJ was in a Christmas program which I will have to share more about that later because it was such a special milestone in her hearing loss journey. I didn't take many photos because it was more of a video camera night, but I love this shot of her turned around because she rarely lets me keep her hair down. She's in the red dress.

Ezie dressed up for the occasion too.

SJ loved her dress and she wore again for Z's class Christmas party. 

The photo above shows Z in a game where he had to be decorated like a snowman using toilet paper and various props. I almost didn't go to his party because of having Ezie and SJ with me, but the classroom mom (who has 5 children of her own) was very encouraging and told me not to let that stop me. I was glad she did. I just love Z's teacher and his school. 

I also got to visit his class another day for candy house decorating.

 We've been collecting orange juice containers all school year for this. They used to use milk cartons which was easy because they drink them at school and Z's teacher would just collect them at lunch time, but they banned the use milk and egg cartons. Something about food allergies? I guess. 

I love playing with food. When I found this pancake snowman idea in a Kroger ad I did my own variation. My parents were in town at the time and we ended up having an impromptu pancake decorating party.  

Here's more Christmas junk food at SJ's school party. 

It was a pajama party with a visit from Santa and he came bearing gifts. The students were SO excited. It was awesome. 

All the kiddie stuff was definitely memorable. Christmas wouldn't be even half as fun without the littles. However we did get to enjoy some grown up time too for the annual church Christmas banquet. It felt like prom all over again and I mean that in a good way. The inspiration for my ensemble was glitz, glitter and GOLD. Even my fingernails and eye shadow was sparkly.



I wish I had better pictures, but sometimes it's just about being there in the moment and that's what I did for the holidays this year. And there is still more to come! I LOVE the holidays.