December

I cannot believe that December has come and gone.... and I feel the same about 2013. They both flew by. December was a fun month full of lots of festivities.

At the very beginning of the month, we celebrated Sinterclaus. The girls put their decorated clogs outside the door and when they woke up, they had a treat left in them by Sinterclaus himself :) I guess they have been somewhat good since they didn't get sticks!





First of all, we went out to get our Christmas tree. It was nearly impossible to find a night that Abe was going to be home so we could get it before dark. Between his command post shifts, being a Flight Commander, an AFNORTH Wrestling coach, Young Men's President and involved in a tennis club.... he is hardly home lately. So, the girls and I headed out after school one day to a little tree "farm" in our neighborhood run by a family. We just loaded it up on top of the stroller and voila, we got it home!

The girls enjoyed decorating it









Then there was the Santa Train. Somehow, we have managed to do this every year that we have been here. The kids had fun and that's all that mattered.



In the middle of the Santa Train adventure, the train drops you off to this room where you can enjoy a german Brotchen, deli slices and a drink. Of course the kids can also see Santa.







We also attended a little Christmas Celebration on base. The kids got their faces painted, they served dinner and there was a band playing Christmas music. The girls also got to see Santa here too!



Last year for the first time, I decided to try my mom's/grandma's Gingerbread house recipe and patterns and made some for Adeline's teacher and some small ones for the kids to decorate. Adeline's teacher from last year, BEGGED me to make one for her again this year. I love that teacher and Adeline loves her too. Even though Adeline doesn't have her anymore, she goes and visits her every day and is always making her stuff. So I made one for Adeline's teacher, her teacher from last year and my friend (who helped make them) decorated the one for Norah's teacher because our kids both have her. It was a long time baking with those big houses and we also made a little house for each kid to decorate. Our ovens are TINY here!! When I dropped the gingerbread house off to Adeline's old teacher though, it was totally worth it. She started crying she was so excited and made me cry. She even wrote me an extremely nice note and a little bit of cash (that I tried to give back!)

Here are the kids decorating











Ah, look how cute they turned out!





After being tired of decorating, we found them all on the couch like this with Adeline reading books.



Norah also had a little Christmas performance.











Last but not least, Norah had a celebration on her last day of school before the break. We got to join her in class for cookies, a little performance and she got to do a lot of fun crafts.









Norah kept saying, "oops! I keep getting it on my fingers!"