Santa At The Symphony & Elf The Musical

 We went to the symphony's Christmas concert again this year.  The girls love it when Santa conducts.  Red Fish said that she likes the symphony better and New Fish thought the ballet was more fun this year.  I'm glad they both enjoy cultural events for the most part and it is fun to see their own tastes develop.

 We straightened Red Fish's hair for the first time and I couldn't believe how long and pretty it was.  I love her curly hair but it was fun to see her with a different look.  It made her look much too grown up.

After a day out with the girls seeing the symphony and hanging out downtown Two Fish and I had date night.  We went to see Elf the musical.  We have never seen the movie but we loved the stage production.  It was kitschy and funny and a great Christmas activity. We had a fabulous time.

First Art Show

Red Fish had her first art show when he painting went to the district level.  She did not win or move on to the next level but I don't think she even noticed.  She was so nervous to go up on stage and receive her certificate that she had to sit on my lap with my arms wrapped tightly around her until they finally got to her category.  I am so proud of her and I think it was a positive experience for her.

Busy Day Of Creativity

The kids have been spending time outside every day and my drying rack full of snowy clothes is always out.  Today they went sledding down a neighbor's driveway but they don't last long outside because it is so cold.  I think I had better come up with a whole bunch of indoor activities to have stocked over the winter.  Luckily, the kids have no problem coming up with some activities of their own.  Today the creativity started with cutting out dozens of paper snowflakes.  Red Fish has been a fan of making snow flakes for years and New Fish is finally deft enough with the scissors to make them with little frustration.

 We now have garlands hung all over the house.

 Then we got out some paint to make hand print trees which turned into a finger painting/sensory activity instead. (Notice Red Fish's decorative hat.  It is pretty on par around here for the kids to be wearing a homemade accessory of one kind or another.)

Red Fish

New Fish

 Then Buddy B came over for puzzles, games and blocks and the kids decided to make sculptures out of wood bits and a box of broken ornaments from my grandparent's house.

New Fish

Red Fish

Cookies and Snow

 Today has been all about baking gingerbread cookies and playing in the snow.

Family Nativity Play

 More Christmas outfits.  Each of the girls got a new dress and a hand me down dress this year.  Red Fish's dress was mine when I was little. We had a birthday party for the December birthdays on my side of the family.  When the girls found out that we wouldn't be able to do our nativity play on Christmas Eve this year they decided that it absolutely had to be done ahead of time.  They are definitely starting to share my Christmas obsession.  The girls called everyone and discussed which parts should be played by which people for weeks. They spent a good part of the morning picking out props and costumes to take for everyone.  They even picked out the book they wanted read as the script. I had no idea they were quite so attached to this fairly new tradition.  It is the third year that we have done it with the kids but my brothers and I did it with our cousins a few times at our Great Grandfather's annual parties.

Thing 1 as Joseph

Hopefully the play will serve as a good reminder of the reason for the season but it ends up being pretty comical every single time.

 Mary (Red Fish) and Joseph (Thing 1) rode to Bethlehem on the donkey (Two Fish) with a little push from the angel (New Fish.)

 When Joseph fell off the donkey at the manger the donkey was highjacked by the angel.

 Joseph was pretty worn out by the birth and took a nap in the manger. The angel brought good tidings of great cheer.

 
The shepherds (M.E. Doo and Pop Pop) were comforted and made their way to the manger, complete with Pop Pops cane. Thing 2 was a fabulous sheep complete with Baaa sound effects.

 Red Fish made sure we had a star to guide the wise men who came bearing their gifts. J looks particularly thrilled doesn't he?

Thanks to my family for humoring the girls and having fun with things. The girls were thrilled.

Nutcracker

The girls in their Christmas dresses paired with snow boots because it has been snowing like crazy around here.

 Today I was riding in the front seat of the car listening to my girls discuss all of the reasons it is great to have a sister to love you and take care of you.  I cried, quietly so they wouldn't stop talking.  I'm getting more emotional the older I get and I was a crybaby from the beginning.  In moments like that my cup runneth over.  Seeing how much they love each other (even though they drive each other crazy a good deal of the time) brings me so much joy.  I think the conversation might have been inspired by seeing the movie Frozen this weekend but their list of reasons included things like a good sister will make sure you get a new nightlight for Christmas because the light-bulb in your other night light just burned out.  A good sister will help you get your snow boots on when the zipper is stuck. A good sister will hold your hand even if you are made of ice.

We went to the Nutcracker matinee performance downtown.  New Fish was in complete heaven the whole time and Red Fish liked the show but doesn't enjoy having to be quiet for two hours.  I kind of knew ahead of time that New Fish would like it more than Red Fish because she is more interested in ballet in general.

 My parents came with us.  They have sat through the Nutcracker hundreds of time but this was probably one of the first times they sat in the audience.  Two Fish is a very sweet Dad to his daughters and doesn't complain (often) about doing things with his girls like seeing Frozen and the Nutcracker in one weekend.  After the show we stopped by the mall and saw Santa Claus.  New Fish is all about Santa Claus and Red Fish is suspicious but happy to believe.  Red Fish was a bit dubious about Santa's explanation about how he gets around the world in one night but decided it was acceptable for now.  It's fun to be in this stage of belief and magic.  I will take it for as long as it lasts.  There are no pictures with Santa because they were charging an average of $30 and I refuse to spend that much on a snapshot with Santa.

Snapped on my Dad's cell phone.

When I was little I got to sit near the front row and watch ballets while my parents played in the pit.  Sadly our seats weren't as good because our tickets were for the second balcony but we bought a family pack so we can see a few shows much like we have done with the symphony the last three years.  Luckily we moved down to the first balcony during intermission.  The Nutcracker is still a fun experience from far away and the girls loved the sparkly costumes.  Sparkles are always a hit with my girls.  They kept asking if they were "real humans or fake humans on the stage."  If the story is fake then why are the people real?  I'm not sure they understand the concept of being an actor or performer completely.  To them, everything is real.

Behind The Scenes At Work

Ornaments

The yearly collection of Christmas ornaments is complete.  I have gotten several very cool ornaments from friends but these are the ones collected from our travels over the last year.  The top two are for the girls from Disneyland last January, The shell is from Hawaii and the sting rays are from Two Fish's trip to the Cayman Islands. The ski bear is New Fish's from her first time skiing, Snow globes and mountain are from Mt. Rainier National Park.  The myrtle wood ornaments are from our drive through Oregon.  The bottom two are from our trip to Whidbey Island just outside Seattle during the family reunion this last summer.  I love putting them all on the tree and reminiscing about the fun things we have done together.  I'm sure the collecting will begin again as soon as the new year starts.

First Snow Of The Season

 We had our first big snowstorm of the season.  It happened to be on the day Red Fish had her first field trip.  Her bus was an hour late coming home from the children's museum because of all of the snow.  I'm going to miss riding bikes outside and sitting in the sun but the kids are already in love with the snow.  They have been asking to ski for six months.  Hopefully the mountains will get enough snow soon.

Blue Fish loves the snow almost as much as the girls do.  His favorite winter activity is having snow thrown up in the air so he can catch it in his mouth.  He likes it even better than catching bubbles in the summer.

We went to an amazing live nativity the other night.  There were 6000 people in line so we had to wait for two and a half hours but I think it was worth the extra time.  It had a whole marketplace and inn, camels and wise men and even the Christ child was a real sleeping baby. I'm curious how often they have to switch the baby out for another slumbering infant. It was a wonderful way to start off the season.

Rainbow Toucan & Other Random Projects

 

By Red Fish

 Piles of foam shapes are being decorated every day with stickers, markers and colored tape.

 The girls have reading about archeology and paleontology and they tried their hand at excavating some fossils.

They have also been using a metal tapping kit (I think one of my brothers used it for a school project a long time ago?) to tap out pictures in sheets of colored foil.

The Season Begins

 I can't believe it is already December.  I keep feeling like time just continues to speed up.  We have so many fun things planned for this month.  I'm hopeful it won't turn out to be too many plans.  Tonight we celebrated the first night of advent.  My girls like to light all of the candles every week and eat dinner with them burning.  We ate peppermint stick ice cream after dinner and then got out all of the Christmas decorations.  Decorating the tree continues to be one of my favorite traditions even though it always stresses me out a little because I'm so attached to the Christmas ornaments.

 The girls have already been wearing their Christmas jammies.  I like to the PJs to them early so they can wear them a bunch during December.

 Our house is all decorated and it is definitely not pinterest worthy but I love getting these things out every year and reminiscing over each thing.  Red Fish remembered where we kept everything in years past and she got especially excited over all of the traditions we have for the month of December.  She is definitely her mother's daughter.  New Fish just kept saying: "It's fabulous!  It's just so fabulous." 

I don't think it is possible for me to love these little cuties more than I already do.