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This was our first Christmas Eve service without Molly by our side. This was because she and the rest of her Cherub Choir were very involved in the service. This video is of the song they sang towards the beginning, Mary Had a Baby. Note that Molly appears to be the only one doing the hand motions they were taught. Later in there service they briefly appeared again as reindeer and then appeared as angels singing Gloria toward the end.

This year, I again handmade several holiday gifts for my family and friends. I'll be sharing them with you over the next several days.

The first was this ruffled romper for my niece, Emmie, from the pattern I tested last year. I bought the corduroy fabric to make a jumper for Leah last winter, but then she got too big for the pattern I had picked out. Oops! So, I made use of it another way.

My sister took a picture of Emmie in her outfit. How cute is she?!

While the performances may be over, there's still a lot of The Nutcracker in our house. The girls frequently want to listen to the soundtrack and dance (usually the Waltz of the Flowers). Here's Leah being a little ballerina. Note the tutu, the medal around her neck, the headband across her eyes (which makes her a superhero, of course), the wand in her hand (because she's a fairy), and the lifted left leg.

Not to be outdone by her little sister, Molly insisted that Chad get a picture of her dancing as well.

Molly's last Nutcracker performance was in the Great Room in Historic Savage Mill. It was a much fancier venue than the first 6, as it is typically used for weddings and receptions. Molly's ready to go for the Children's March with her two compadres.

Promenade two by two.

One smiley mouse ready for the battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse Queen.

One small victory…

followed by a bit of rest...

and a different mode of transportation.

Molly smiles so much during her performances. She really enjoys it.

It was another great show,

followed by flowers for all the ballerinas. Molly was thrilled!

Molly kept up her regular ballet class in addition to her Nutcracker rehearsals and performances. The last class before Christmas was Visitor's Day, so Grams, Pop, Aunt EA, and Aunt Caroline joined Chad and I to see what they did in a typical class. I believe this was their Superman stretch.

They definitely work on balance and posture. Here Molly is balancing a bean bag on her head while standing on one foot.

Molly loves ballet and has fun at every lesson.

We made our way to Greenway Farms to get our Christmas tree this year. Molly is pointing to our pick and giving us a thumbs up. Leah is trying her best to give two thumbs up (so cute).

This was a cut-your-own tree farm, so Chad cut the tree down before lugging it up toward our car.

After dinner, we worked on decorating the tree. Nice antlers, Molly!

While decorating the tree, we listened to the score from The Nutcracker. Leah had no interest in putting ornaments on the tree, but instead just wanted to dance with this nutcracker ornament. She loved it and was happy as a clam, other than getting annoyed that we kept interrupting her to ask if she wanted to put an ornament on the tree.

Chad acted as a ladder to prevent all the ornaments from ending up on the bottom of the tree.

Molly did great putting ornaments on the tree, but during certain scenes of the score from The Nutcracker, she had to take a break to dance with a nutcracker ornament like her little sister.

After everything else was done, Leah finally agreed to hang her nutcracker ornament on the tree. This was the only ornament she hung.

The tree, decorated and lit.

We took the girls ice skating for the first time Monday afternoon at the Columbia Ice Rink. Leah was not a fan and only lasted a minute on the ice, but Molly had a great time.

Molly and Chad skated around like this the entire time. They had little walkers for kids, but Molly wanted nothing to do with them. So, instead, Chad got a good workout of skating and holding up a kid as she wobbled and occasionally kicked one of his feet out from under him.

Most of the time, Molly wanted to go "a little fast," which meant a good pace but not as fast as the real skaters were going. She loved it, and kept pushing Chad to speed up every time he slowed a bit.

Here's Molly at Nutcracker performance number 4, dancing in the Children's March.

The mice may not win the battle with the soldiers, but Molly did have a small victory along the way.

Molly's shaking her tail during the closing bows.

Three little mice.

Huddle up, mice.

Here are the girls in their Children's March costumes with their dolls from the show.

There are still two more performances to go. Check out the schedule if you are interested.

We couldn't make the annual Gingerbread House Party this year, but we were the lucky recipients of a "take home party" instead. The girls had a great time decorating their gingerbread houses. And yes, that's icing on Molly's nose.

Carefully placing icing on the perfect spot!

The finished houses. Molly did hers pretty much entirely on her own. Leah had a bit of assistance.