Caleb 'n Christina: Christmas and New Years

Squishy face!!

This year, December and January has been particularly cold for us in MN. We didn’t get inundated with snow to quite the extreme as we did last year, but we had several weeks below 0. So far we’ve had three polar vortexes that caused temps to drop to -15 and colder, with biting winds bringing it down to -45 or -50! Schools have been closed each time, because they don’t want kids walking to school or waiting for the bus in these frigid temps. (In case you’re curious like me, any exposed skin (think even around the eyes) succumbs to frostbite within 5 minutes) To say Madeline got stir crazy during those times is an understatement.

Not that we didn't find lots to do inside! Thank goodness for playdates. :)

Dressing up is ALWAYS a hoot!

Talking on the Home Depot phone. She LOVES calling up the lumber department, and being asked to help on special projects. Daddy is so proud!

Celebrating a friend's birthday!

Madeline LOVED putting the Christmas decorations up (and Olivia loved pulling them off the tree), and she was pretty upset when the holidays ended and we took them down.

"I'VE GOT TO HAVE IT!!!!!!"

Daddy and Madeline made Christmas cookies – and new this year were the Christmas movies. After Thanksgiving, we exchanged gifts with Caleb’s immediate family. One of Madeline’s gifts was a set of Christmas movies (Rudolph, Frosty, etc.), and she loved them SO MUCH that it quickly became a new tradition to watch one every night (before you start thinking that’s excessive, remember that most of them are only 20 minutes long or so, plus those movies go away the rest of the year).

Watching a Christmas movie together on Christmas Eve. (Note Madeline's *Christmas Jammies*)

Madeline memorized most of the songs, but also had trouble with some of the scenes. The Bumble (the abominable snowman in Rudolph) scared her, but she was also quite unhappy with the way Rudolph was treated. She’d tell us every time, “I feel SO sad for Rudolph!” We’d have to remind her that it had a happy ending, just so she’d finish the movie! We love our sweet, sensitive girl…

We stayed at home for Christmas this year, and hosted my mom and my brother, David, for the holidays.

A recipe for "Favorite Uncle" status: play Mario Kart Wii with her!

If you want to see pure, unadulterated joy, watch a three-and-a-half-year-old’s face on Christmas morning. Several times she kept saying “Merry Christmas, everyone! I LOVE my family!” As a special gift to the girls, Caleb fixed up my old doll house. He spent hours sanding, painting, gluing and putting “shingles” on it, ultimately creating an amazing toy. With the addition of a family and new living room from her aunts and uncles, the girls now have quite the doll house! Olivia is still too young for it, but Madeline plays with it several times a week (if not every day).

Sometime after Olivia was born, we started the habit of singing a song to Madeline before nap and bedtime. For months it was always the "Sunshine Song" (i.e. You Are My Sunshine), which became "Madeline's song" (Olivia's was Brahms's lullaby). Once the Christmas season began, though, Madeline requested Christmas songs. We are STILL singing them before bedtime and nap, with her favorites being "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Away in a Manger," and "Silent Night."

Sadly, this has also been the winter of the reoccurring illnesses. First Caleb and the girls caught a nasty cold on the way home from Thanksgiving (Olivia's turned into an ear infection), then in January everyone but Madeline caught a bad stomach bug (NOT a good weekend!), and now Olivia's recovering from croup while I'm dealing with a sinus infection.