December highlights

Can you believe the new year is here?  Since I didn't write much in December, here are some highlights:

1. putting the girls in their pajamas and filling sippy cups with warm cocoa to go look for Christmas lights.  They LOVED it!  The particular lane of lights we were hoping to visit wasn't open yet (bummer!), but we still had a lot of fun.

2. Advent books!  A pinterest/ blog idea I stumbled on somewhere... it was a total hit.  I rounded up the Christmas/ winter books we have, and checked a bunch more out from our local library.  Then I wrapped them all up and numbered them 1-25 and put then under the tree.  Each night, the girls picked the next number as we counted down to Christmas.  They thought this was great and have already asked if we can do it again next year. :)

3. Christmas cookie exchange.  I go to one at my friend Gretchen's house every year.  Such a great way to load up on different kinds of cookies without putting in the effort to make each yourself!  As always, I made my Christmas mint cookies. This year, I totally revamped my recipe and was extremely pleased with the outcome.  Maybe I'll post my recipe for anyone who is interested. :)

4. Christmas with family.  We have the greatest families.  I'm so blessed that we can spend time with all of them - and that we all enjoy it.  No horror stories here!  Christmas Eve was spent with my in-laws and Christmas day was spent with my side of the family.  My sister and her family even came from California to hang out with us.  It was fun watching my girls play with their cousin, and we all enjoyed the chance to connect.

5. Zoo Lights:  Honeygirl has been talking about going to zoo lights since her birthday back in October.  That's approximately when they start putting all the lights up at the zoo to prepare.  And I must say they do a fantastic job.  This year we even rode the train, which we haven't done before.  And we lucked out with a dry (but rather freezing!) night.  Yay!