I was so worked up about Annika's ENT appointment last time that I completely forgot to tell you about her preschool Christmas program! It was completely adorable of course. It was held in the little chapel at her (Catholic) school. All the parents were in the chairs, most with cameras and/or video cameras of course and the kids walked single file into the room. The teachers spent a couple minutes getting everybody in place and then the teachers had the kids wave hello to their family. I think they were hoping to get that out of the way so the kids could focus. It sort of worked. Annika was in the front row in the center - all the better to see her of course! I had the digital camera and Kris had the video camera. James was free to hang out on the floor between us for the most part. They did two little finger plays and sang three songs - Happy Birthday to Jesus, Jingle Bells and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Annika has been singing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs every since - over and over and over again. After the program was over we were treated to juice and cookies in their classroom while the kids gave us a present they made for us. It was a wreath made out of their handprints (green finger paint on white cloth) with red finger painted dots for holly. Completely adorable of course.

The weekend before Christmas was packed for us. Saturday was our celebration with Nana, Papa, Uncle Dusty, Melanie, Auntie Carrie, Uncle Adam, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. We had a great time eating great food, being with great people and the kids opening great presents! They each received adorable pajamas, books, toys and Christmas ornaments. Annika spent most of her day latched on to Uncle Adam. Annika is completely smitten with him and I got some cute pictures of her all cuddled up with him. James was just all over the place of course as there was dog dishes and stairs and all sorts of things for him to get into. Luckily there were many people there to help Kris and I chase him all day. That gets exhausting!

Sunday was another busy day. After church we headed to my dad's family's Christmas celebration. Annika was so excited to have kids to play with but we were one of the first ones there and not many other kids arrived for a little while. And one little girl cousin who was there is really shy and needs some warm up time before she's ready to play. Annika was so sad and kept coming to us crying that she had no one to play with. It wasn't too long though before there were more kids and Annika spent the rest of the afternoon running around having a great time. James was having fun too. Since the party was held in a church school's gymnasium, there was lots of room to roam about playing with toys and balls. We left around 3:30pm with the intention of going home to let the dog out and then continuing on to my mom's family's Christmas celebration. As we neared our house though the weather and roads continued to worsen. When we reached our house we decided to call it a day and just stayed home. I was disappointed that we weren't going but it was probably for the best anyway.

Monday was Christmas Eve of course. We spent the morning cleaning up the house and putting the finishing touches on some things. Kris ran to the grocery store to pick up some last minute items and then we all played and napped (well the kids did) for a little bit. We hosted Nana, Papa, Auntie Krystle and Uncle Pierce at our house that evening. Nana and Papa joined us at church and when we returned home Auntie Krystle and Uncle Pierce were there and they had even put the roast in the oven for us already! Good thing too as it took two hours to cook! No worries though as we used that time to snack on appetizers and wine. And we let the kids open their presents from us too. We finished up the evening watching Ratatouille. That was a pretty cute movie.

Tuesday morning James woke up at 6:30am. Great. And of course that woke the dog up which woke Nika up so we all traipsed downstairs. Annika was so bleary-eyed that it took a minute to register with her that Santa had come and left presents for her and James! Well, it didn't take long for those packages to be torn open! While the kids played, Daddy made Swedish pancakes (a Christmas morning tradition in our house). Hmm, yummy! We just relaxed and played for most of the morning and early afternoon before heading over to Grandpa Dan and Marcia's house for a celebration that evening. After we ate and opened presents (how can we be so spoiled by all our family all the time???) we all gathered round to play the Wii. We created Mii characters for Dad and Marcia and they bowled with us. Then I played Mathias in tennis (and lost - I always lose!) and then Mathias and Pierce played tennis. Then we got out Smooth Moves so we all could play. That was pretty funny. We left just in time for both kids to fall completely asleep in the truck.

Thursday was spa day! Nana and I had half day spa gift certificates to take advantage of! We had wonderful massages, manicures and pedicures. Ah, heaven! Our massage therapist was wonderful. I would go back to her any time! And Friday was cookie day. I left the kids home with Kris and went to Amanda's to bake cookies with her and Mary (and baby Logan). It was such a fun day. I don't get to see my girls very often any more and yet we were completey comfortable with each other and it was as if no time had elapsed at all. To me, that is the mark of true friendship. I just love spending time with them. I really should see Amanda more. It's not as if she lives 4 states away or anything. I think she and I are going to start having dinner together once a month again. I'm looking forward to that.

Sunday the kids and I went on a playdate to Lisa's house to play with Emma and Sam while Kris went to Jon and Michelle's house to deliver our Christmas gifts to them. I was completely bummed when Kris picked us up and said we were going home. I wanted to visit Jon and Michelle too! I wanted to see the kids! We'll have to get together with them again sometime soon I guess. Annika and James had a terrific time playing though. They played with Little People and had a snack and played Ball in the Hall and baby and hide and seek and well, they just played their little hearts out. Annika was so sad when it was time to leave and has asked to play with Emma every day since then. We may need to schedule more play dates with Emma I think!

Monday while Kris went to work I got the kids and I ready (that takes longer than you'd think when there is only one adult at home!) for the evening. Annika and James stayed at Nana and Papa's house that night! James' first time away from home! Kris was very glad to have a night off from the kids. I was more hesitant. I wasn't worried about Annika - I knew she'd have a great time. But I was worried about James. He doesn't sleep very well as it is some times and I was worried how he'd do. They did have a pretty rough night but everyone seems to have come out unscathed, including me. (sometimes I am a huge baby, I know) Maybe the kids can stay again sometime soon. I think Kris would like that! And Nana and Papa too. And Kris and I had a great night - although not much of it was actually spent together! We were at Amanda and Dean's house for a party. And before long all the girls were gathered in the living room and the guys were downstairs playing Wii, only coming up with minutes to spare at midnight. It was fun though, a lot of fun. Yesterday we headed back down to pick up the kids and visit for a while with Nana and Papa. And now here we are back to normal. Work, work, work. Annika and James were pretty happy to see me when I got home from work today and boy was I glad to see them too. I really liked being off work for so long!