Gone Bananas: December Highlights

The month of December was a whirlwind! Our advent calendar activities were definitely one of the highlights of the month. It was so much fun getting up in the morning and checking to see what our activity was going to be for the day. In fact, it was the first thing Abigail said each morning. I thought the best way to highlight our activities would be to tell what each person enjoyed the most. Here goes, and I will start with myself.

Mommy: I loved seeing "A Christmas Carol" at the Scottish Rite theatre. It was such a charming place. The building was at least 150 years old and had been restored and remodeled to accommodate children's theatre. I also loved that the play had been adapted to entertain younger audiences. Unfortunately, the girls did not share my love of this particular place. Thankfully the lobby was supplied with childrens books and toys so that Emery could play while I watched the play from the auditorium doors. This was the girls least favorite of all of the productions we have been to. I think they have been spoiled with several high production value performances and this was definately low budget with very few bells and whistles. That was the appeal to me, but apparently not to my theatre critics.

Daddy: Spencer's favorite activity was making gingerbread houses at the Children's museum. (Other than being off work for 10 days) He really wanted there to be a little more of a method to the madness, but was able to restrain himself and enjoy letting Abigail decorate things her own way. And by decorate, I mean eat herself into oblivion. Less than half of the candy ended up on the house. We chose a house that had been already constructed and all we had to do was decorate it. It was made from fresh gingerbread with all kinds of yummy candy for decorating! It was no wonder the kids couldn't keep their fingers out of everything. It had been a few months since Emery and I had been to the museum. She enjoys it more and more each time she goes. She was more interested in playing with all of the exhibits than sitting and decorating. Thank goodness because I am not sure there would have been enough candy to go around!

Abigail: If I had to chose just one favorite thing for Abigail, I would chose ice skating. I am not a very good ice skater, but she and I suited up together and gave it our best shot. She did great! It took her about an hour and a really hard fall on the ice to get the swing of things. As soon as she had things figured out, she was ready to start moving faster. A few more times and she will be a pro! As usual, it is really hard to narrow it down to one favorite thing of Abigail's. She always has a good time no matter what she is doing and she is always up for doing anything. That is what makes her so fun to be around! She had tons of enthusiasm for everything we did this holiday season.

Emery: The countless drives we took looking at Christmas lights was a highlight for Emery. It was so cute to hear her "oohhh and ahhhh" from the back seat. We have a house in our neighborhood that has a light display that blinks to Christmas music. She thought that was pretty special. She also loved the Polar Express party at the library. She headed right in, found herself a beanbag, and started coloring. The free cookies also helped put this one towards the top! Emery has such a great demeanor that you can take her just about anywhere. Like her sister, she wants to be where the action is! She too enjoyed all of our Christmas festivities.