Snow and sugar plum fairies

We had our first snow the night before last, which is always exciting. Especially exciting since we never really know if we will have snow at all around here. I remember as a child (I grew up here) sledding ALL the time---we lived in a great hilly neighborhood and we'd start each time by putting plastic baggies on our hands and feet beneath our gloves and socks (not sure why?), layer up with all our snow gear, and then head out for hours of fun. We'd get together with the neighbor kids, and work away down the street, sledding down everyone's back yard. Then we'd come home, take off our sopping wet clothes, and sit in front of a space heater in the basement floor warming up. Good times. I loved playing in the snow as a child. But as an adult, I'm more of a fan of sitting inside, nice and warm and dry, and watching it fall.

Since it started snowing late Thursday afternoon as it was getting dark, we just turned off the inside lights and watched it fall through the window. Perfect. Then Friday morning, Eliza didn't mention anything about wanting to go outside, and I sure didn't, so I took a deep sigh of relief as the snow was melting and I thought we would get away with not having to go outside.

But then our sweet neighbors rang the doorbell, and that was the end of my warm and dry day. So we layered up in non-snow clothes---besides some snow boots I got for Eliza at a consignment sale, we have no snow gear. I'm always afraid if I buy them snowsuits, I'll jinx the chance that we will ever get snow. But after about a half hour of getting dressed, we headed out and they did have a blast.

Here's my snow princess and Stay-Puff marshmallow man.

Our neighbors Jacob, Joey, and Andrew brought their sled and taught Eliza the art of making snowballs. Which she practiced by hurling them all at me.

Also this week, Eliza's class at school made gingerbread houses and mommies came to help decorate. After buying one of those kits last year and doing one at home, I was curious as to how her teachers were going to do 14 of those things, which are quite labor-intensive and have to dry over night. But I loved what they did---Miss Patti collected empty little milk cartons from her daughters school and a couple of moms (me included) took them home and hot-glued graham crackers to them, and then glued them to a heavy paper plate. It worked out great---they were very sturdy, and other moms just brought in icing, gum drops, candy canes, gummy bears, fruit roll-ups (for windows), pretzels (for doorframes) and coconut (for snow). They turned out very cute and they kids had a great time!

Last weekend, we went with our playgroup to see a local youth ballet production of a mini-Nutcracker. I took Eliza last year, and wasn't expecting much as it was kids dancing, and the tickets were so cheap ($6 adult, $4 child). But I was sooo impressed by the production. The sets and costumes look like what you see in a professional performance, and the dancers were beautiful. And it's only a little over an hour long, which is perfect for little ones. And for me, too, really. I always fall asleep in the real one. Here are our little sugar plum fairies---aren't they precious!

Whew, that was a lot! But I'm now FINISHED with all my Christmas duties, so I'm looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the rest of the holidays, and focusing on the real reason for this season. And I'll be counting my blessings, too!