It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

That used to be (and still is, actually) my favorite song to listen to at Christmas when I was a kid. My dad had an Andy Williams Christmas record (yes, I said record--I know I'm old) and we used to love to listen to it non-stop at Christmastime. To this day when I hear it, I still think of Christmases when I was young and we would dance around the house singing "It's the most wonderful time.....................of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good times. Anyway, we have had a fun past two days celebrating this most wonderful time of year. On Christmas Eve we went to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house for some delicious grilled steaks, chicken, and sausage, and of course some yummy desserts to finish off the Christmas feast. We then visited, laughed, had a special visit from Santa himself, sang Christmas carols, laughed some more, and opened some presents. Unfortunately, somehow all of my pictures from all of the fun we had (and all of my pictures from the last 6 months too!) somehow were mysteriously deleted from my memory card. I was and still am seriously bummed out about it, so I can't think about it right now. After all of the festivities there, it was time to head home to get ready for the big visit from Ole' Saint Nick. When we got home, the girls put reindeer dust (aka glitter) and reindeer food (aka oatmeal) out on the driveway.



The reindeer dust is to help the reindeer spot our house easier and the reindeer food is so they can have a little snack while Santa is inside delivering the presents.



This is one of their favorite things to do, and they get so excited about it. It's so fun to watch them.



We of course had to leave out some milk and cookies for Santa, and a few carrots for the reindeer, since carrots are their favorite snack.



Looks like Santa and the reindeer enjoyed the treats. And Santa even left the girls a letter.



Santa always sets out the girls presents with their stockings. Up until this year, the girls have always slept until around 6:30 or 7am. I knew it would happen at some point, but I really didn't think it would be this year that they woke up before the crack of dawn--about 4am to be exact. We tried to get them to go back to sleep, but it just wasn't happening. And honestly, I wasn't sleeping well anyway, and was pretty excited for them to see what Santa had brought. So we all got up and opened presents at an insane hour this morning. And it was so much fun!



Katie before opening presents.



After opening presents.



Sarah before opening her presents.



Sarah after opening her presents. Can you tell she was getting tired of all the pictures?



*Some of their favorites gifts
They were pretty excited about the Lil' Kinz that Santa stuffed in their stockings, since the ones they got last Christmas are about to expire.



They both loved their American girl dolls. Katie opened hers first and said, "She looks like me!" It took her a few hours to figure out a name for her, but she finally decided on Caroline. Sarah took one look at hers and immediately said, "Her name is Elisabeth." I love both of the names that they picked out for their dolls.



Both of my girls LOVE blankets, so I made both of them blankets for their beds out of this cute pink Carolina fleece that I found at a great price. I put pink satin on the back. And since I had some extra fleece and satin, Aaron suggested that I make matching ones for their dolls. He has such great ideas. I thought they all turned out really cute, and the girls and the dolls loved them.



Here's Katie and Caroline with their matching nightgowns, which they love! And I do too!



And here's Sarah and Elisabeth in their matching nightgowns, which they love too! They all changed into their nightgowns soon after opening them and stayed in them until almost noon. I think they are so adorable!



But the most favorite gift that Santa left was the trampoline! They are having so much fun with it. Here they are with Daddy playing 'Crack the Egg'. We've had a fabulous Christmas and hope you all have too!

From Our House to Yours

Holiday Hustle and Bustle

Despite my efforts--which are usually successful--to avoid the craziness of this season, I have been caught up in it everyday this week. I think it is in large part due to the fact that I just don't have the energy I normally do (being great with child, and all), which has left me much more unprepared than I normally am at this point. So everyday this week has been filled with errands, shopping, doctors appointments, doing Christmas cards, making homemade treats, etc., etc., etc. And our nights have been just as busy with parting, caroling, delivering, more shopping, etc., etc., etc. I have been trying to get all of my running done this week in order to be able to relax and enjoy the next week with my family and make it as fun and enjoyable as possible for the girls, but I am tired and I think I need a vacation before Christmas!

One Bright Star and a Little Sheep

Tonight was our ward Christmas party. It was a 'Cajun Christmas', with lots of different delicious gumbo. After dinner, the primary did the first Christmas story. It was so cute. Katie was the star of the show--literally. We made this big, glittery star for her to hold up. She was kinda upset when she came home from church last week because she really wanted to be Mary. But she got pretty excited about being the star when Aaron explained to her how important the star was to the story because it told where to find the baby Jesus.





And the little sheep on the end is Sarah. She didn't have a part originally and was okay with that, until she found out her friend Ethan was a sheep. So Aaron called and asked if they needed anymore sheep. She was pretty excited to be a little sheep, and practiced her part all week with Daddy. "Baa. Baa."





She and Katie helped me make her costume today. You couldn't get the full effect of her costume while she was on stage because we had planned for her to be on her hands and knees, like this. Such a happy little sheep! The night ended with a visit from Santa.

Snow Much Fun!

This is what the house looked like when the sun finally came up. I know, not very much snow at all, but a big deal for folks like us that never get to enjoy it. Sadly, it was all gone well before noon.



Katie started a snowball fight with Daddy just before he took her to school. She was trying to be sneaky. It was so cute.







Somehow I got caught in the crossfire. We enjoyed our few hours of fun with the snow!

You Might Think I'm Crazy

But I had no choice but to do what I did in the wee morning hours. For years my sweet Katie has longingly asked, "Mom, when am I going to get to see snow?" And my answer has always been the same, "Probably never, at least as long as we live in Louisiana." So when Katie heard on the news that there was a chance for snow, she was beside herself with excitement. She was very disappointed to find out that she still had to go to bed at her normal time last night. I told her if it snowed that I would wake her up so she could see it. She then wanted someone to stay up all night to watch for snow. Yeah, right. As bad as I wanted her to see it snow, I was not willing to do that. But lucky for her someone was watching. I woke at about 3:30am to the beeping of our answering machine, which meant that we had a new message. I always think the worst when we get a call in the middle of the night. But it was my sister-in-law, Amy, who in a very happy and excited voice was telling us that it was snowing at their house in Vidor, Texas--so much that they had been playing in it for an hour and had built a snowman the size of my 16 year old nephew, Jarrett. So I got up to go see if it was snowing here. When I first looked out into the night, I couldn't tell that it was snowing. But when I looked out of the back door I could see some accumulation on Aaron's truck. So I looked closer and could see tiny, little snow flakes falling--the kind that you have to strain your eyes to see. I went back to ask Aaron if he thought I should wake Katie up. I knew she would be upset if I didn't wake her, especially if I told her we saw it snowing and it wasn't snowing when she got up at 6:30. I also knew that it might be a long time before she would see it snowing here again. Aaron says he only remembers it snowing once when he was little. So I went and woke her up, and Sarah too accidentally. They were both so excited when I told them it was snowing and wanted to see it. Turns out that we got up at just the right time because the tiny flakes turned into the big-beautiful-can see them from a mile away snow flakes! It was so pretty to watch it falling. So then of course the girls wanted to go outside to get a closer look. Sarah, when she felt how cold it was, decided that she could see just fine from the doorway. Katie, on the other hand, wanted to really get the full effect of the experience.



Look at how excited she is--at 3:30am!



And of course she had to taste it!



Check out how huge these flakes were!



A front view of our house.



Aaron's truck.



When she woke up at her normal time and found out she still had to go to school, she wanted to go make a snow angel. I had to let her, even though the thought of it make me shiver. Who knows when she'll get the chance again?!



Here is Katie's first snow angel. Even though we had to miss out on some sleep, it was so worth it to see the smiles on the girls faces and to see the beautiful snow falling--something that is very rare in Southwest Louisiana. Our own little Christmas miracle!

Happily Ever After

My conversation with Sarah at nap time today.

Sarah: What does happily ever after mean?
Me: It means you are happy always and forever.
Sarah: Do we have happily ever after in this life?
Me: Yes, we can if we do what Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to do.
Sarah: So I can live with you happily ever after?
Me: Yes, if we do what is right. That's why it is so important for us to make good choices.
Sarah: I want to live happily ever after with you and my family.
Me: Me too!

All I Want For Christmas

For months now Katie has been hoping that her two front teeth would not come it before Christmas. Why would she hope for such a thing? Because she wanted to be able to sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." But about a month or so ago she lost another tooth right beside those two front teeth. So, now she goes around singing, "All I want for Christmas is my three front teeth!"

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!

Tonight Aaron was talking about one of his new favorite treats, hot chocolate with cool whip. He asked if we had any and I told him I thought we did and I would make him some later. Soon after that the girls disappeared. I didn't think anything of it until Aaron called me into the living room and told me to bring my camera. Apparently the girls had found the Reddi Whip in the refrigerator and Katie had tried to make Sarah a beard like Santa's.



It was seriously cracking her up!



And us too!



So then Katie wanted me to make her a beard. And I did. Silly girls! Don't they know that Santa is watching?!

The First Presidency's Christmas Devotional

I am so grateful that we were able to go to the Christmas Devotional tonight. It really got me in the Christmas spirit. I really enjoyed all three talks, but I have to say that President Uchtdorf is fast becoming one of my favorite speakers. It could be his accent, but whatever it is, I am just captivated whenever I hear him speak. I have always felt that way about President Monson too. I am so grateful for living prophets, who uplift and inspire us to want to be and do better. On the way home, Aaron and I discussed things that we felt inspired for our family to do this Christmas season, and throughout the upcoming year. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, for his birth and life, and for this wonderful time of year.

Christmas Under the Oaks

Okay, so there's not a whole lot to the little town of Sulphur (as far as entertainment goes), but I have to say that Sulphur has the coolest Christmas Festival around. I have been wanting to go to 'Christmas Under the Oaks' for the last few years, and finally made it on Saturday. We started out the day going to 'Breakfast with Santa', which was really cool--literally! It was set up outside in a tent and it was pretty cold, but it was so neat. First the girls had their picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Clause .............................



................and then we sat down and had a breakfast of pancakes and sausage.



We also enjoyed the company of the Zachary girls.



After breakfast, I dropped the girls off at the Zachary's for Emma's birthday party, and Wendy and I headed back up to the Henning House and had some delicious gumbo that Sulphur High was selling. Then we walked around and checked out all of the vendors selling all kinds of cool, fun, and delicious stuff. After Aaron had picked up the girls, we all headed back again for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, complete with a video presentation--which made us proud to live in Sulphur, another sighting of Santa and Mrs. Clause, fireworks, and SNOW!!!! (No, it wasn't real, but as real as it will get in these parts.) The girls were SO excited to see it 'snow'. They were even trying to eat it. Yikes! We had a great time and look forward to next year.

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today was Aaron's birthday. We celebrated with Kent, Johnice, MawMaw, and a few friends here at the house tonight. We are now the same age, thank goodness. He loves that he married 'an older woman'. Only five days older, but he still likes to make a big deal about it and tell me that I'm old for the few days that I am older than he is. He's so funny.



Blowing out the candles--36 of them, to be exact.



Yes, he got them all out in one blow. And look at all the smoke. I'm surprised the fire department didn't show up. Hope you had a great day honey!

A Few of My Favorite Christmas Things

It's finally beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Youngsville. After working Wednesday and Thursday we have all of the inside decorations up. Now if Aaron can just find some time to do the outside lights (he's been pretty swamped with church and work since we go back), we'll be all decked out for Christmas. I took pictures of some of my favorite Christmas decorations. I could really go crazy with Christmas decorations, but I try to keep things simple since we have a small house and our space is limited.



Our stockings all hung by the quilt rack with care? Small house--no where else to put them. I especially love Aaron's. Our good friend Jana (who introduced us) gave it to Aaron the Christmas after we met. Her mom actually made it and painted the deer and his name on it.



I love this sign I found at Target a few years ago. And that sweet little angel happens to be one of my favorite things too!



I absolutely adore this beautiful nativity that Aaron gave me for my birthday after we first moved into this house. You can't tell from the picture, but it has amazingly beautiful details. You'll just have to come over to see for yourself.



Aaron also gave me this for the same birthday. It too has beautiful detailing that can't be seen from the picture.




And here is the tree. I have to admit that I think it looks great.



Here it is all lit up. Of course, the picture doesn't do it justice. It is much prettier in person. Come by for a visit and see for yourself. We'll even make you some hot chocolate!

O Christmas Tree

This year I feel so off track for Christmas. We usually start putting up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving and have in all done in a day or two. And here we are a few days into December and I don't have everything up and I feel like I'm wasting precious Christmas time. Well today I was thrown even more off when Aaron showed up with a live tree. We have a beautiful pre-lit artificial tree, which I LOVE, but Aaron......not so much. We bought it about seven years ago when Kmart here in Sulphur was going out of business. It was originally over $200, but we paid $60 for it. It is full and beautiful, but because of it's age, it has a few issues. For instance, some of the branches at the top are broken, but I taped them up and it works, and you can't even tell. And then last year some of the lights on the bottom of the tree went out. I spent hours working on them, to no avail. But I am fine with just adding some string lights and calling it good because I just love the look of the tree so much. Aaron has been trying to find a new tree for the last few years, but I just don't want to pay the price to have a tree as beautiful and full as the one we have, especially when we can just make do for a little longer. We were over at the Cliffords on Monday and he got so excited about their real tree and I think that is when he decided that we needed a real tree too. So here he is, all proud of his real tree.



In my opinion, the only great thing about a real tree is that it smells up the house really nicely. But, we have found that Yankee makes a 'Mistletoe' candle that smells just as good, and makes you think your tree is real, without all of the headache of a real tree. I know lots of people will disagree with me, but I think there are so many more cons than pros to having a real tree. Here are the ones that really are bothersome to me:

1. Having to water it and try to keep it alive until Christmas. I have put Aaron in charge of this, since it was his idea, and because it is a little harder for me to get up and down these days.

2. Having to pay every year for a tree that is going to die. Makes no sense to me.

3. All of the needles EVERYWHERE!!!!!

4. It is not perfectly shaped like my artificial tree. Aaron says that's because it is REAL and REAL trees, like life, aren't perfect. I say--what's wrong with a little perfection? After all, isn't that what our ultimate goal is supposed to be?!

5. The branches are too weak to hold some of our heavy ornaments. Even the ones at the top won't hold them. They just keep falling down. It's very frustrating.

Having said all of that, I really am trying not to be a Scrooge about the real tree, especially for the girls sake. They really weren't too sure about it either to begin with, but once they got out of the bathtub tonight and saw the tree all lit up after I had shaped it and strung all the lights, they were very excited and immediately went to work putting on the ornaments, which has always been their job.



Posing by the tree.



They used to put all of the ornaments in the same spot on the bottom of the tree, but they have gotten better about spreading them out.



While they were decorating, Sarah kept saying, "Mom, this is the yummiest Christmas ever!" I guess the real tree is growing on her. Maybe it will me too. But really, these smiles are all that matter.

Countdown to Christmas

I know I am a couple of days late, but I fell in love with this cute idea for a Christmas countdown on Tip Junkie and I made it today. I put fun things inside each 'little drawer' for us to do each day to help us countdown to Christmas and get in the spirit of the season. I included things like write a letter to Santa, make Christmas cookies and take some to a friend, read the Christmas story together, go Christmas light looking, go ice skating, make a Christmas ornament, send Christmas cards to the missionaries from our ward, etc. I am loving my new little advent calendar and look forward to a new fun thing to do with my family each day! I love Christmas!