Holly Jolly

After an unseasonably warm Thanksgiving weekend, Mother Nature has finally remembered that it is winter! We have a covering of snow (we could use more - but it's a good start) and the temperatures are much more December appropriate. The snow has helped us all get into the holiday spirit!

Last Saturday, our elf Tyler returned from the North Pole and brought breakfast with him! We woke up to a festive table, set with Santa plates, powdered sugar donuts, strawberries, marshmallow yogurt, matching pjs, and our elf in the middle of it all. It was so fun to listen to the kids wake up and discover the surprise. Tyler also left each of them a special note about the good things they are doing. They were pretty puffed up with pride as they read their notes.

Then this Saturday, we headed over to the YMCA for breakfast with Santa - just like we did last year. We had hungry children and Mike and I definitely didn't get as much "leftover" breakfast from them as we did last year. The girls saw some of their favorite Y teachers - and Q even got to see a couple of her preschool program teachers. We also ran into our friends A&B there, which was a fun surprise.

Everyone was super excited to see Santa this year. No one cried and they were all thrilled to smile for a picture. They told Santa what they wanted and then he told them that he also wanted a present. For them to give their mom and dad lots and lots of hugs and kisses. If it's for Santa, we're willing to accept those gifts!

The girls made penguin ornaments and they all made reindeer food and wrote letters to Santa. We swung outside to see Prancer and Vixen. Quinn and Declan were super curious about the reindeer this year and Quinn even touched Vixen's antlers. She's getting so much braver with animals! We are so proud of her! Just like last year, it was a fun way to check our visit to Santa off the list.