Gingerbread Houses and more...

We've had a great time with our advent activities this past week. We've had to be flexible with a few, but they have been accomplished nonetheless. My favorite activities this past week were 1) picking two tags off the "Giving Tree" (I can never just pick one). We picked one that is for a little boy Sawyer's age, and one that is for a newborn baby girl, like our Aspen will soon be. The hardest part is shopping for the toy trucks the boy is hoping for with Sawyer (although Sawyer also makes it easy to pick out the winning toys!) and 2) Seeing the Christmas Ships and Carkeek Beach on Friday night. Our friends, the Parkers, joined us and we all huddled together on the beach, our babes so bundled they could hardly move (it was cold). The boys loved the Seattle Children's Chorus songs, with Forrest signing "more, more" and Sawyer staring at the big star on the ship "star". Sawyer also has not forgotten that trains go by this beach, so every 5 minutes or so he would turn and say "choo choo" - he really had high hopes of seeing a train. Jacob and I just loved snuggling together and taking it all in. It was a clear, cold night. The lights on the ships were bright and welcoming, and all of us on the beach got to join in song for the last Christmas Carol "silent night" which is one of my favorites. The air was actually colder than the water, so their was this cool steamy-mist floating on the water, and the tide was out so we could walk out quite a ways. I just love this tradition: it's so magical. Saturday, instead of walking around Greenlake, we went to a Christmas Party at our new church building. We got to meet some of the people and Santa even stopped by. Sawyer clung to our legs like his life depended on it and wouldn't get near the bearded man in the red suit. We are re-thinking our trip to Nordstrom (since there is usually a minimum 1-2 hour wait to see Santa - and what if Sawyer just wants to get away from him after all that waiting in line?) Although, honestly, who can blame kids? Sitting on a strange man's lap - I think I'd feel a bit nervous, too.

Our dinner with our old neighbors was fantastic last night. We really need to have people over more often. It was great to catch up with them and their two cute little boys. It is the best thing in the world to have great neighbors :) Anyway, because their boys are on an earlier bedtime schedule than ours, they weren't able to make Gingerbread Houses with us...so we made them tonight, instead. Our Family Home Evening was focussed tonight around Norwegian Christmas Traditions. I couldn't help but think of my dear friend, Karoline, who spent Christmas with our family a few years back, but is now back in Oslo. We even had some glog and some gingerbread toffee (thanks to Ikea). It is so much fun to learn about how people in different parts of the world celebrate Christmas.

Sawyer didn't get to help with the Gingerbread Houses this year (it was too late once we got started). Jacob and I turned on a great Christmas mix and went to work. Mine ended up being more of a lavish home, while his was a little more modest this year. We always have a wonderful time creating. I think Aspen was kicking away because of sugar overload (I don't even really like candy, but if it's right in front of me, I just keep eating it!)

The countdown to Christmas is going fast! We still have a lot of fun to look forward to. Oh! Sawyer also, as of this weekend, is 18 months old! (more on that later!)