Christmas Anticipation!!

Like all other kids who anxiously await Christmas morning, our girls lose their minds in anticipation for Santa!! We try to keep their excitement up as much as possible......they are only little for an itty-bitty while, and it is so much fun to experience this part of the year with them. While the holidays can be exhausting and difficult for us old-peeps, December is truly a magical month for the kids....it's such a blessing to see that gleam and happiness in their little eyes!!

Pine Mountain Christmas Train

One new thing we did this year is visit the Pine Mountain Christmas Train!! It was soooooo much fun, and the best part was that it was only 10 minutes up the road (when you live in the boonies, that is a huge PLUS!!)

Daddy and Grandmama stocked up on hot chocolate and cider to get ready for the ride!!

Photo-ops with Frosty.....and his, uh.....elf??

Ella is showing Daddy all of the "glowing moving deer." :)

Daddy thought they were rad.

While we waited in line, Rudolf and another...um, "elf"....came to dance and take pictures with us :)

Here comes the train!!!

All aboard!!

Note Clairy's face.....she was already DONE with me taking pictures!!

Even though she is an absolute maniac, she can still be so very sweet (ps-Nice photo-bomb, Nora).

We were all cracking up because Clairy kept screaming "OH MY GAWWWWWD" in her best New York accent - she was just TOO excited about the lights.....I swear, this child. God broke the mold with her....

Such a fun time on the choo-choo!! They have different-themed train rides for different seasons, so we will DEFINITELY be going back!!

Gingerbread Houses

The day before Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve EVE), we broke out the gingerbread houses. I always forget how much fun this is. :)

Making an "E" for Ella :)

Clairy wasn't ready to make a whole house yet, but she dominated those gingerbread men!! :)

Henry was just BEGGING us to drop some gingerbread or candy....he's such a mooch!!

Adding all the yummy details:

That chocolate smudge on her head goes great with her freshly-cut BANGS that she cut all by herself. While the new-do bummed me out, she really didn't do that bad of a job....it could definitely be WORSE!!

(this is her "got the smudge off" face)

Claira is just taking after her Daddy who also took the scissors to his bangs when he was about that age :) (They remind me of Harry and Lloyd in this picture).

Once again, Gato just sits for hours and looks at us like we're idiots....he's such a bum. Get OFF my counter, feline!!!!!! Ugh.

Finishing up!!

(Maniac. MA-NI-AC.)

Daddy took care of the remaining icing:

And again, she takes after her Daddy:

Finished products!!! We immediately devoured Nora's house, but Ella wanted to leave her's out for Santa as opposed to cookies this year :) Santa left us a jolly note to tell us how much he LOVED it!!

Little Christmas memories are the best!!

Cheers to choo-choos and candy-houses!!