Ready for Christmas!

Christmas cards are mailed (with missing punctuation, old pictures of the babies because I didn't have any time for a Christmas photo-shoot and with free breast-cancer awareness address labels because ours were late and of course arrived the day after I mailed our cards.)

Cookies are made (out of the box with egg and butter for the most part, not as many as I had hoped for, but I hear Santa isn't picky). Emma did help make our first ever real Gingerbread cookies though. Although she refers to them as her "Gingies". The Shrek Christmas Special is one of her favorites. :)

 

"Santa the Elf" is out and about and usually makes it to his new landing spot every morning before Emma wakes up. He sometimes even leaves her a little note which she LOVES.

Emma is primed and ready with a recent hair cut, despite the fact that she still barely has any hair. Christmas outfits are cleaned and ironed and ready to go, although it wasn't hard because Emma is almost the same size as she was this time last year, so she is wearing her Easter dress, and Squishy is wearing some hand-me-downs that happen to go perfectly with Emma's blue Easter dress. :)

The house is clean (or as clean as its going to get in the next couple of days) thanks to help from the babies...











Presents are purchased and wrapped (for the most part, still have some stocking stuffers to take care of to help out the big guy).

Santa drove by the house right before bedtime earlier this week on a fire truck...BIG HIT. Emma is still talking about him.

Both babies went for their regular doctors appointment earlier this week and both are doing awesome! Squishy now has four teeth! Woo hoo! Emma is off the charts with her development and both are happy and healthy! Jackson weighed in at 20 lbs 8 ounces which put him right in the 50th percentile and was 28.5 inches long, which again was right at the 50th percentile. Emma Kathryn weighed in at 25 lbs (fully clothed so I think she is still in the 24 lb range) and I forget her height (DOH!) but both were in the 5 to 10th percentile, so remains our tiny little package. Since she has remained in the same percentile for a while now for both height and weight, her pediatrician estimated that she would be about 5' 3" and 105 lbs fully grown.

We also signed up the babies for a little holiday session swim class and they have been loving it! Squishy wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first but really got the hang of things. He never cried, but he certainly wasn't smiling during the first class. :)

So by "Ready for Christmas", I mean "As ready as I'm going to be!"

Despite all of the chaos that the holidays bring, I can't help but take a step back and thank the big guy upstairs for how incredibly blessed we are. People are always telling us how blessed we are, and it's not hard to lose sight of that in the daily shuffle, but that's what the holidays are all about. Taking time out of our crazy lives, to think about what life is all about, be thankful for everything that we have, and I honestly couldn't ask for anything more. I have an amazing husband, two incredibly happy and healthy babies, an amazing family that supports us no matter what and great friends to confide in. So despite what shows up under the Christmas tree on Sunday morning, how many cookies are made or not made, how some presents may be missing bows, Christmas is going to be amazing this year, and I couldn't be happier.

From the bottom of our hearts, we wish everyone a safe

and truly joyful holiday season.

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis