Christmas Celebrations

We started getting excited for Christmas just after Halloween.  We'd listen to Christmas music on the way to Matilda's school every morning.

A few weeks before Christmas, Matilda and I had a special weekend for just us.  I had a gift card to a nail salon, so she and I went and got our nails done.  Then we went and watched the Nutcracker ballet downtown.  

A few weekends later, we had our church's children's candlelight service.  The girls got all dolled up in their Christmas dresses.

Matilda was an angel in the pageant this year.  Mabel dressed up too, but didn't go up to the front.

It's always my favorite service of the year.

For the holidays, we went to visit family.  We celebrated Christmas Eve at Jason's parents.

Mabel had been having a tough afternoon (I think she was tired), but she perked up once we started opening presents.

Matilda had a great time, as always.

And Mabel got really into it too.

   

We opened presents at my parent's house Christmas morning.

It was a bit chaotic with five kids under 8, but they all had a great time.

The only hiccup of the entire trip was Mabel got an ear infection and screamed all night one night.  (Above picture is us, exhausted, at the Urgent Care the next morning.)  Otherwise, it was a great holiday!

Crafting and Organizing

Since having kids, I haven't had too much time for crafting.  Honestly, most of the crafting I've done is while nesting during pregnancy.  But, I've recently gone through a little crafting kick.

Earlier this fall, I made Matilda an Angelina Ballerina costume (the ears and tail) for her school's book parade.

 Then I sewed a new Christmas table runner and pillowcases.

And I sewed Matilda a twirly Nutcracker skirt.

And I've made decent progress organizing Matilda's ridiculous amount of accessories and costumes.  All of her jewelry used to be in one large drawer, which made it impossible to find anything.  I used a cup rack to help organize it.

Her costumes were hung on a bar across her windows, with the wings and such in a box next to it.  We got her a toybox for her wings and other costumes accessories (along with her stuffed animals) and a wardrobe for her dresses and leotards.