thesellers.net

Christmas morning arrived with all the excitement we are used to it having. The girls came downstairs to find that Santa had delivered.

There’s some good stuff in these stockings. Molly’s jaw dropped when she saw that it included a white chocolate Kit Kat.

Once the stockings were emptied, it was time to open some presents.

After Molly got this mermaid tail blanket, Leah wished she could have one as well. Jen obliged and got her one too.

Since Leah got her FlipaZoo, it’s been at the top of Molly’s wish list. She was very excited to open this box.

She really loves this hippo, or giraffe.

Every year, the girls purchase gifts from the Secret Shoppe at their school. It’s always fun to find out what they picked for us. You should know they each went separately and had no opportunity to discuss their purchases. This year, Molly got me a Phillips head screwdriver and Leah got me the matching flat head screwdriver.

We gave the girls necklaces with their first initial on it, which go very well with their nightgowns.

This is the face Leah makes when she receives Shopkins. It will go in the dictionary under Shopkins face.

The Christmas merriment completed at our house, but then it was time to head to Grams’s house to keep up the celebration. More on that tomorrow.

Per tradition, we opened a single present on Christmas Eve. Breaking with tradition, we only had the kids open a present this year. Charlie got to open presents first on Christmas Eve.

Leah and Molly are smiling.

Treats for Santa and his reindeer.

As she does every year, Jen made the girls new pajamas for Christmas Eve. And as always, they loved them.

This Christmas Eve, both our girls were involved in both of the family Christmas Eve services at church. First, the choirs of both girls joined forces to sing in a couple of the Christmas Eve services at church.

The main content of the service was a very fun skit which Molly took part in. The video below is the entire skit. Molly first appears at 1:20 for a non-speaking scene. She then appears at 7:00 for the scene with her speaking role.

Leah read about the Advent Wreath and led the congregation in prayer. I love that she looks up to check that her microphone is on before she begins speaking.

As happens every year, the Fire Department brought Santa’s sleigh to our neighborhood.

I believe Molly told him that for Christmas she wanted a chicken that said “pataca” (inside family joke).

Here’s a wider shot of the sleigh and the front of the line waiting for their turn.

In December, both the girls sang with their choirs in church.

Great singing, girls.

The day after getting the tree, it was time to decorate the tree.

The ladder got a lot of use, which was good as it meant we didn’t have a concentrated ring of ornaments around the bottom of the tree.

There was also an alternate ladder the girls could use to reach up high.

Leah was happy to use the Daddy ladder as well.

This year, Molly decided she was big enough to put the angel on top. It was a bit of a reach, so I gave her a little support.

Our new ornament from Disney World was a highlight of the tree.

Here’s the decorated tree.

So, sorry for not posting anything for the past couple of months. But never fear, I’ve been taking pictures along the way and will now catch you up over the next few days. So, think back to December, and pretend the holiday season is just getting started.

This year, we returned to our favorite place to find and cut down a Christmas tree, Greenway Farms. Sadly, they no longer have any White Pines (our go-to tree), so we had to choose something else. We browsed around for a lot longer than the girls wanted to, checking out the Douglas Fir, Norway Spruce, Blue Spruce, White Spruce, and Canaan Fir. We ultimately found a Canaan Fir we liked (as you can see here) and I cut it down.

Cutting down a tree is enough work to warm you up, so I ended up taking off my jacket. The girls were complaining about being cold, and each wanted to wear my discarded jacket. They found a fun solution.