the nutcracker

Ben surprised me and the girls with tickets to see the Nutcracker (performed by the Carolina Ballet) a few days before Christmas. We had such a fun time. The girls had never been to a ballet or such a big venue and loved seeing all the dancers on the stage and the special effects. Since Ben had to be out of town, we found a babysitter for the boys for the afternoon and loved having a girls outing. (I also enjoyed a much needed break from Simon's crazy energy after dealing with the kids on my own 24/7 for most of the month.) I gave each of the girls their own little nutcracker when we got downtown and they both wanted to bring theirs into the ballet. It was really cute. Amelia is starting to outgrow so many things so I love it when I can still see glimpses of a little girl.

Christmas cookies

This year's selection: chocolate chip walnut macaroons, chocolate peppermint bark cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, chocolate-dipped raspberry hazelnut shortbread, salty chocolate nutella thumbprints, orange slice cookies, and turtle cookies. It was a good variety but I think I need to cut back next year. I love to try a new cookie recipe every year, but I can't seem to eliminate any of the old ones. We had fun delivering cookies to neighbors and friends on Sunday afternoon.

Ben reading "A Christmas Carol" one night.

downtown raleigh

The Saturday before Christmas we attended our ward's Christmas breakfast and then I spent most of the day baking cookies. I made dough for 7 different kinds of cookies the night before. We took a break Saturday afternoon and took the kids to Marbles for a bit and then saw the Christmas decorations at the Capitol and had gourmet hot dogs at Tasty 8.

I love being at Marbles right before it closes and the place empties out.

Late night cookie pile-up and Ben cleaning up my cookie mess. I could hardly stand at this point. I forget that my energy level isn't quite the same when I'm pregnant.

green december

Enjoying a warm December evening at the playground, waiting for Ben to get home from South Carolina.

christmas movie night

We watched "Arthur Christmas" one night while munching on delicious popcorn from Trader Joe's.

gingerbread houses

Ben was home for a few days! We waited to decorate gingerbread houses until we could have dad's assistance. 

 The girls took a break to do a little dance to "Little Drummer Boy."

preschool Christmas program

Oliver had been practicing Christmas songs since September to prepare for his preschool Christmas concert. He knew all the words and would walk around the house singing the songs but he told us he was NOT going to sing at the concert. He did, however, do all the actions which surprised us. He was very serious on stage and you could tell he was really concentrating. The girls skipped school that morning to see him perform and it was cute to see them get excited about the concert and tell Oliver what a good job he did after the performance.

(Oliver is on the far left. He wasn't thrilled about wearing pants or a bow tie. He is a shorts and t-shirt kind of kid.)

Oliver's Preschool Christmas Concert from Sarah Black on Vimeo.

Christmas card photo shoot

I wanted to do more Christmasy looking photos for our Christmas card this year. I saw this giant wreath online last year and have been wanting to replicate it ever since. It actually turned out to be fairly easy to make the wreath and I had a lot of fun putting it together. I just used greenery and berries from our yard and tied them to the base of the wreath which Ben made using some flexible tubing. I made the sign out of cardboard and then painted it. The kids weren't too excited about posing for pictures. Amelia was grumpy because not only does she hate having her picture taken, but she hates wearing a dress and her shoes were too small. Simon was just his usual busy self and was having a particularly crazy hair day. Oliver was angry that he had to wear pants. Elsa was my only willing participant, coming up with her own poses.

A more accurate depiction of Amelia.