Really Random Thursday, 12/15/16

Christmas. It's getting closer and closer. Does it feel like this around the holidays?

Exactly. So all I want to do is make these.

 Last Saturday we had one of my favorite holiday traditions, soup and cookie day. The family comes over for soup.

Stacie joined us as an added bonus this year

Then Aaron and Christa leave, and the the kids and I make cookies.

We have been making cookies for quite a few years. I found this picture of Charlotte making cookies for Valentine's Day. She was probably 2 1/2.

Oh my goodness. This is from last week. How do they grow up so quickly??

The boys had fun too.

They made some yummy things:

Pumpkin snickerdoodles.

Red-Nose Rudolph Cookies:

And Ho Ho Holiday Bark (so simple and very delicious). You will notice the barrier line of red and green gumdrops: Gabe doesn't like peppermint. So Levi's side had gumdrops and crushed peppermint sticks, while Gabe's side had gingerbread cookies and chocolate chips. And everybody is happy.

The next night was the children's Christmas program at church. Christa was the director and the program was really good. Really, how can you not have a good time listening to little ones sing about Jesus? And you are just never quite sure what they will do once they are on stage.

Ella--this is always a classic, and honestly, there is always one little girl who does this every.single.year.

Charlotte was Mary and Levi was a shepherd.

And we found out later that the Baby Jesus was a Dodgers fan. (Remember Cabbage Patch dolls? This was Aaron's doll when he was very small...)

After the program we tried to get Gabe and Ruby to take some pictures together.

Come on, Gabe. Smile a little bit.

No, not that kind of smile. A nice normal smile.

Okay, now can you give each other a hug since you are such good friends? Good job, Ruby. Gabe, can you actually hug Ruby, please?

Gabe: "Fake hug...."

*sigh* They are so adorable.

Gabe and I had a craft afternoon yesterday. We had planned it for such a long time. Then he was sick. And then I was sick. And then he was sick again....

Anyway, I got this idea from my good friend, Stephanie (@stephiepeterson), Christmas trees with Hershey kisses, and they were fun to make, with Reese's peanut butter cups as the tree trunk.

This was in the newspaper this morning. Which sounded exactly like me, as I always have to check with Christa and Jill to get sizes for the kids' new pajamas.

And this sounds like Mark.

Hope your coming week gives you some time to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of the holidays.