I waffled on whether to buy these wooden ornaments or not, but I'm glad I did. They came in handy when the girls were feeling antsy on Christmas Eve day.

The girls had the week before Christmas off of school and my goal was to spend time together. I put aside personal projects (no pottery) to play, craft, bake and watch movies with my kids. I dropped some balls this Christmas for sure, but being present was one thing I did right. One day, before the cold temps dropped in, we went sledding at a neighborhood park. Oh what fun we had! There was so much laughing and playing. It was so delightful! No one cried and when we were done, we came home and the girls made hot chocolate. I hope my children remember this about their Christmas break and not all the times they told me they're bored and that it's the longest week ever.

My sweet little Maeve Alberta is 6 years old! How did this happen? Maeve is everything. She has the best, most infectious laugh. People around us have always commented on her laugh and still do. She is thriving in kindergarten in a way unlike her older sisters (is it because of the pandemic or her personality?). She loves school. She loves learning her letters and numbers, she loves the rules, she loves her teacher and her friends. It's been an absolute joy to watch her blossom and show real maturity I didn't even know she had developed. Maeve is missing her bottom 4 front teeth and thinks the gappy adult teeth coming in look like castles. Her mind works in the most interesting of ways. She loves the cross country electric towers - "look my favorite things!" she said to us once on a road trip. Maeve's favorite thing is to play Toca World on the iPad. She also loves skipping forward in whatever show she watches (drives me nuts!). Enoch worships her. Maeve continues to be a snuggler, and when I recently denied her entrance to my bed in the middle of the night and she responded, "but we usually snuggle in the night," I knew I had to hold firm and tuck her into her own bed. Maeve loved having friends over to build gingerbread houses, eat cake and play traditional party games. It felt so normal and delightful. Her birthday gifts were things her sisters liked to do. It was heart warming and so special to watch Maeve build lego with Greta and then craft with Holly. How lucky she is to have 2 amazing older sisters.

Here's to many more years with my Maeve. Gosh, I love her.

Our Christmas tree was a process this year, as it seems to usually be. Step 1 is to cut her down. Step 2 is bringing her into the house. Step 3 is lights. And then step 4 is decorating the tree. We only ever seem to manage to get steps 1 and 2 and maybe 3 done in the same day. And honestly, this totally works for me! Trimming the tree always feels like a lot, so it really is nice for that to have its own day. I taught my boys to be soft with the tree and to say, "pretty tree," but it's not been unseen for the "soft tree" stroking to turn into pulling on limbs. All in all, I've been very impressed with their restraint. The tree has remained largely unscathed. Presents will not be placed under the Christmas tree until at least the 22nd, likely later, because I just don't trust those little dudes.

A snow day is always so exciting. First there's the wondering the night before and the anticipation that maybe we'll have a snow day. And then school is canceled and everyone stays home, or cross country skis to the park to meet up with friends as Holly and Greta did. The first big snow is magical. There's so much outside play time and this year I brought the snow indoors for my toddler who is less than enthused about wearing mittens and all the other gear. My smallest ones sat at the table and played and played in their little piles of snow for a good long while. I'll have to do this again with them soon! And then the snow became water and that was so much fun. This was a big win!