My family's favorite thing to do at Christmas... bake Swedish gingerbread cookies! We usually only make them once a year on Christmas Eve, but this year we decided that wasn't enough and we made them last week. We'll bake up some more on the Eve. We love to package these cookies up to deliver to friends and neighbors. At dinnertime, I told Greta she would have to stay home if she didn't eat her dinner. She looked at me squarely and replied evenly, "I'll play with all my toys and make a big mess." Conor and I both were unable to contain our laughter. She's a handful!
And a happy little Christmas scene on our mantle. I wish Christmas could last year round!
You know you're in Spokane when the line to visit Santa Claus is only a few families deep or there's no line at all! Happy day! I love the magic of Christmas. And even though you're not supposed to take any pictures with personal cameras, I still did. Another thing about Spokane. People are so nice. Santa pointed to my camera and had the girls smile.
Happy Christmas from these two ragamuffins!
Holly and Greta love to wear knee high socks, or "knee hocks" as they're often called at our house. These girls are so cute! When I dress them in blue and pink/red, it makes me think of Mary and Laura Ingalls.
This time last week we were in Calgary, Alberta enjoying time with family. We went up for our nephew's baptism and stayed about 5 days. We had a lot of fun visiting family and just being together. It's been so long since the girls and I were last in Calgary - almost two years! Now that we live so much closer, we won't ever go that long in between visits and I can't wait to explore Alberta with my family. I have a running list of things to do and see when we go up. One thing that I want to try to do every trip, is drive through Banff and stop for a hike. If you haven't been to Banff, you should fix that and go because it's gorgeous. I had chosen an easy hike - Silverton Falls (trailhead is at the Rockbound lake parking lot, right by Johnston Canyon) for our little family to do. The mountains and trees were perfectly flocked with snow and before we arrived at the trailhead big, fat snowflakes began to fall. It was completely perfect. Holly and Greta were thrilled to be in the snow and going for a hike. I said to Conor that what we had been doing wrong with all our hikes up to this point was we weren't hiking in snow. It was amazing.
We made it to the falls and this is were it got a lot colder! The frozen creek came right up to the path, but it didn't register with Holly that it was ice and she walked out a few feet. I called out to her quickly knowing what she was doing and knowing what would happen, but it was too late. The ice broke and the poor girl was soaked up to her hips! She managed to scramble out okay and we quickly took off her wet clothing and wrapped her in my coat. Fortunately it wasn't very cold (only a little below freezing), and we hadn't made it more than 15-20 minutes from the parking lot. Everything was fine and some kind strangers who came upon us right after she fell in brought us a fleece blanket. It all turned out okay, just a little startling!
Conor and I have since talked about the event and shared our perspectives. Maybe this was an important lesson for our girls to learn. The dangers of ice. Maybe it'll save them from a future fatality. If not, it sure has left us with a strong standing memory of Banff!
Happy Halloween from a black kitty (meow!) and the cutest Elsa I’ve ever seen. According to my daughters, both roles require seriousness, but I cracked through their frosty exteriors and snagged some smiles. Have fun, be safe!
I just love these sisters.
