Christmas in April..why not?

This past December was just as busy as any other, so busy, in fact, that I am seriously contemplating never trying to do this much ever again in a month!!  It is always a fun time, with lots of memories to be made, but by the end of the month I think I had gained 15 pounds and was so exhausted that I needed 2 additional weeks of vacation to recover!! 
December always means christmas parades!!  We joined Becca & Seth in Gatesville for their parade.  The girls were so excited about getting candy!!!  The Temple Parade is always at night, which makes it really neat with all the lights, but no candy is thrown and its usually fridgid cold that night!!  Of course we went to both parades and had a great time!!




Maggie is learning and growing so much!  She did such a good job on her letter to Santa this year.  She concentrated so hard and work very hard on making sure she wrote everything the best she could!  She was so proud when she had finished!!

Sophie on the other hand, spent her time eating candy and making silly faces.  I guess she knew Santa would still visit her even if she didnt write him a letter.

Next is cookies!!  Christmas cookies!!  Can't have Christmas without cookies and sugar cookies are the most fun because you can decorate them however you want!!  Personally, I would rather order a few dozen of Ms. Mary's cookies, whick taste way better and are a lot less work and mess.  If i would have done that than I wouldnt have been able to get these sweet pictures of the girls in their Christmas Aprons having a blast!! 

We were planning a trip to Kansas at the end of the month for a family wedding, so I had to get the girls a decent winter coat.  It is rarely cold enough for a big coat in Texas.  I think we had 1 or 2 nights when the big coats were needed!  The girls were so excited about being able to play in snow and wear their pretty winter coats!  The sad thing is that when we finally got to Kansas, almost all the snow had melted and the temperatures were warm enough that we didnt need our winter coats!!  Here are a few candid photos of the girls in their coats at home!

A Christmas Tradition that we inherited from Gerson involves us going down to the Valley to visit his family and attend Pasadas ( I am pretty sure I spelled that wrong).  This was our second year attending and our first year bringing the girls!  They had fun playing with cousins and hitting pinatas.  It was nice to get to know Gerson's extended family better.  While we were visiting, we went to light festival in a neighboring town.  The whole town participated.  The displays were so neat.  Some were historical, some were religious, and some were just strange!  We took a trolley ride through the town to see all of the displays.  It gave our local BLORA light fest a run for its money!!  Maggie and Sophie's favorite was Cinderella's carriage! Gerson's favorite was a lit verson of the Time Warner Cable Logo (which I failed to get a decent picture of).

 

  Despite the girls and I getting streph throat during our trip to the Valley, we were able to get into a clinic and get antibiotics early enough that none of us got super sick and we felt good enough to stop by Sea World on the way home for one last trip before the year ended. They really have a great section for the kids and the girls always have such a good time!!  Sophie and I even got to take pictures with the Sesame Street Characters!! Maggie was too scared to come up on stage!

There is a huge play ground area that could keep the girls busy for hours!! I must admit, Gerson and I had a pretty good time playing, too.

And  of course, there were plenty of photo opportunities, they even had them marked on the maps!

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house and mom made the cutest pillow case dresses for the girls!!  Because my children are MY children, it was very difficult to get a really good picture of them.  They are beyond silly and big hams for the camera, but they sure can be sweet when they get to open presents!!!

The girls got a new tea party set fron Santa on Christmas morning. We enjoyed a tea party complete with empanadas before we headed to church on Christmas morning. Gerson is well schooled on tea party etiquite!

Every year I enjoy getting the cute family picture Christmas cards from friends and family.  I think that maybe someday I might have myself organized early enough that we can do that kind of christmas card, but it has yet to happen.  Instead, we usually set up the timer on the camera and try to get a decent photo in our last minute try to be matchy-matchy outfits, this year was no exception. But with such beautiful little girls-the pictures turned out pretty good!   So here is the Christmas card that nobody got:


Merry Christmas from the Gutierrez Family!
December 2011