The kids are very into Christmas and Santa this year. Preschool does a wonderful job of reinforcing Jesus and his birthday. John Grayson can now set up the nativity on his own and knows lots of cute songs. One of my favorite things happened when his teacher gave him a candy cane to bring home. In the car, he told me all about how if you hold the candy cane one way, then it's a J for Jesus and the other way is a shepherd's hook. Smart boy! Delia knows all about Santa and can say his name. She is also very into cookies and holiday lights.
Decorating the Tree
We had friends in town for Thanksgiving, so unlike past years, we didn't put the tree and outdoor lights up the day after Thanksgiving. The Christmas tree went up shortly after Thanksgiving, but we had trouble finding a good time to tackle the outdoor lights. It became incredibly cold and windy in early December, and neither John nor I really felt like standing outside stringing lights. And then it snowed. Twice. Needless to say, we have no outside lights this year, but John promises to up his game next year.
The kids were a huge help decorating the tree, especially John Grayson. He loved finding the perfect spot for ornaments and then admiring his handy-work. Delia was interested for about 5 minutes and then she wondered off to play.
Making Cookies
Another tradition in our house is to make Great Great Grandma Schmitt's famous sugar cookies. They take two days to make because the dough has to rest overnight, but they are oh-so yummy and totally worth it. The kids loved playing with the dough and putting sprinkles on the cookies. Delia was much more interested in eating the sprinkles so I ended up doing most of the decorating after John iced the cookies. The cookies were a huge hit (especially with Delia, our little cookie monster).
Daddy and the kids making cookies. Delia was too into playing with the dough to bother looking at the camera :-)
Delia taking a break from the business of baking cookies to smile for Mommy
Delia loved the cookies, especially the icing and sprinkles!
John Grayson also loved the cookies. He was a big help with the sprinkles too, but only the green ones!Snow
To be honest, I'm not sure if I live in Virginia anymore. It's only December, and we've already had two snow falls, one of which was "bad" enough to close schools for two days. They're calling for more snow tonight. At least we don't have to travel tomorrow! We learned our lesson from last year's huge snow and bought snow pants for John Grayson. He LOVED playing in the snow and helped John shovel the driveway. Delia, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with being outside. She watched the boys from the warmth and comfort of a chair near the front door. We borrowed snow pants from a friend (thanks Kelly and Bill!), so maybe we can convince Delia to play in the Christmas snow. We'll see :-)
Our house in the snow
J Gray LOVED the snow this year!
Delia watched the boys (Dusty included) playing in the snow from the comfort of her chair. She watched everything they did but refused to go outside!
This is my only picture of Delia in the snow, and she wouldn't go any farther than the deck. She insisted that I hold her if we went into the yard!Lewis Ginter
For the second year, we went to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's Gardenfest of Lights. Lewis Ginter is the beautiful botanical garden in Richmond and they decorate all of the trees and bushes with Christmas lights. It was fun to bundle up and walk around the garden with the kids and MaMa and Pop. Delia was a big girl this year and walked most of the way. It was really cold, so the kids announced they were done after about an hour. It's definitely a wonderful Richmond tradition that we love to experience!
A family photo among the lights 
John and the kids
Delia, MaMa and Pop
Delia was so bundled up that she could barely move! She did a great job though and walked almost the entire time.
Daddy and Delia. She loved sitting on the tree stump so it took some coaxing to get her to get up and keep moving!
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