This year's ornaments were nice and simple. I used up scraps of fabric from our favorite Christmas quilt and used this Scandinavian Fabric Stars Tutorial. Holly and Greta chose which strips of fabric they wanted to have used in their stars. I made a few extra. These little stars are a great little project!

Ah, decorating the tree. It's a total frenzy of excitement and urgency for our kids. Our tree is pretty simple with lots and lots of ornaments I've made over the years. That tradition is one of my favorites. Here are some pictures of my girls in front of our tree. And of Maeve wearing the tree skirt!

In 2016, we had major tree drama. I wanted to perfect tree and Conor and I fought about it and I cried and we ended up spending $90 and then the next day, Maeve was born. 

After that year, we decided that buying a $5 permit and cutting down our own tree was the way we should go. When we are cutting down a tree I care less about a perfect tree because you have to cut from a cluster and it's truly all about the experience. We went to Idaho last weekend with our besties and had the best time cutting down a tree. The snow was up to our knees and the forest was so beautiful! After chopping our trees down and hauling back to the car, we feasted on cinnamon buns, trail mix, oranges and cider until we couldn't feel our feet. I would choose this over a perfect tree every time!

This horse-drawn carriage ride is a really fun, free activity here in Spokane. We did it 2 years ago when Maeve was a newborn snuggled up in Conor's coat. This year, I took the girls right when the rides started at the beginning end of the season. We went twice and had a lovely time. Following our loops around downtown we bought hot chocolate. I feel like I'm knocking it out of the park when it comes to Christmas activities this year!

On Saturday, I really wanted to do something fun and out of the house. We've had sick kids all taking turns for what feels like forever and just a lot of tasks to manage. We went downtown to ride the carousel and look at the lights and happily it was also the tree lighting celebration so there were booths with crafts and hot chocolate as well as live music. We browsed a toy store and watched the big evergreen get lit. It was a really fun evening, one I think we will purposefully repeat next year. I can't wait to get our tree and decorate it!