(a little advent and) Christmas

Ah, we start with the cranky Mlada from Gaudete Sunday. Were they all matching? Yep. Was Mlada happy about it? Apparently not. #shestartedthetwosearly

With Daniel off to see the new Star Wars with a friend, we trekked off to Boulder to visit a friend and have a coffee date.

Then there was decorating the tree (we rotate a bit on when this gets done, as my family always waited until Christmas Eve, and Daniel's did it earlier in the month).

Finally, finally, just a couple days before Christmas, we got some snow! It felt perfect to roll into Christmas Day with snow on the ground.

And, as my girls all know, with snow comes hot chocolate.

There was lots and lots of reading. Anni loved being out of school and having as much time as she wanted to read (though chores still existed much to her chagrin).

We also decided to dive into cookie baking (gingerbread). On the whole, we had a blast, but as anything with toddlers, we ran into some rough waters when one sister wanted to share the chair with the other.

We decided to try Polar Express while the cookies baked, and, honestly, the girls spent more time concerned or stressed than enjoying it, so I don't think it was quite a check in the win column.

Then came Christmas! I didn't get a photo of all three girls together, because, with the double Mass days, we decided to do Christmas Eve Mass, and Mlada woke up from her nap just in time to have clothes thrown on her (as she protested mightily) and hop in the car.

We had a relatively traditional (for my Czech/German family) dinner, at least in that it was vegetarian. We had creamy pasta, shrimp, a yummy salad, and bread.

Then it was time for the traditional Christmas jammie present (and they so sweetly posed for a photo! They were loving the snuggles.)

Finally, our Christmas Eve closed out with reading The Night Before Christmas. My dad always read us this poem, and Daniel continues the tradition when we aren't in Wichita for Christmas.

Christmas morning was such fun! We try to keep our gifts to a three gift maximum, but we really enjoyed trying to get something they would each love this year. Colette got a dollhouse, which she has spent every day since emptying, rearranging, and creating all kinds of wonderful stories.

Anni got an Our Generation Doll (Target's version of an American Girl doll), which was the one thing she reallllly wanted, and despite a tragic loss of one of Franny's shoes at Nonna and Papa's, she is quite enamored with her sweet doll.

We gave Mlada a doll to go with a big gift we knew she was getting from my mom (a darling doll pram!) and the sweetest doll quilt from my sister, Katie.

Then we were off to my lovely in-laws' for food, gifts, and lots of cozy time together.

It snowed softly all day the day after Christmas, which just made things seem all the cozier.

Then we faced down the hard part of our break: Daniel leaving. He headed off for SLS18, and we missed him awfully as we rolled into the year, but made it!

Our sixth Santa Lucia Day

Our St. Lucy's day this year was a test of stamina.  My usual helper is dealing with a cough and the asthma issues that brings with it, so I was on my own when I hopped out of bed at a quarter to five to start the dough rising for St. Lucy's crown. Our lussekatters were yet again a product of the refrigerated dough section of the store, but I did manage to make our braided bread from scratch (thank goodness for this really easy recipe!)

Because Anni needed to be to school early for her class' recitation of The Night Before Christmas, she wore the rather floppy crown (I've got to figure out how to fix that!) but no traditional white dress and red sash this year. I am looking forward to 2020 (yes, I looked it up) when we can have a weekend St. Lucy's day to throw another tea party! 

Daniel is actually the first one of us up usually, so this was a rare chance to let him "sleep in" a little. (I still refuse to refer to 6:30 as sleeping in, but it *is* a lot later that his usual 5:45!)

Then, because we had heard Mlada start to stir anyway, we headed into the little girls' room, where Mlada immediately burst into tears and Colette jumped up to blow out the candles and asked, "Is it my birthday?!"

Here's to a very sweet St. Lucy's day to you all. My she ask Christ to bring light to your darkness.