The Christmas Spirit

Never have I felt the Christmas spirit as I do this year. Odd, I know, especially since I won't be able to be with Mark, my mom, sister, nieces and nephew or my friends. This is, without a doubt, because of our wonderful girls. While I am going to (and already do) miss everyone terribly, I have been savoring every moment with Emma and Sophia. Each day I think I could not love them more and yet, each day I do love them more. Whether it is Sophie's hugs, Emma's kisses or the pure bliss on their faces when they talk about Santa, they bring me such joy.

Tonight, after a busy day of ballet, cookie baking and walks, as Emma and I lay watching Frosty the Snowman, she snuggled closer to me, turned and looked right into my eyes and said, "I love you mommy". It doesn't get too much better than that...tomorrow we're off to breakfast with Santa at Sea World. I can't wait!

Here are some of our highlights from this past week....
Santa's biggest fan


Sophie and her babies

A visit to daddy's office
We brought some goodies for daddy's friends at work and left our santa's hat for daddy there for his return (at Emma's request). The girls loved their webkinz...

Me and Miss April

The holiday book exchange at school (Friday)

Emma's holiday ballet demonstration

Emma's teacher, Miss Jennifer, told me how well Emma has been doing - that she has great rhythm (thank you daddy) and is very focused - picks things up quickly (thank you grammy). I was so proud.

Cookie baking

Note the determined look on Soph's face before she was foiled by Emma. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of the days with Grammy and Aunt NeNe

Emma's love note

When I was cleaning up this evening, I found one of Emma's notes stuck to a picture of the two of us from our big girl day at the Nutcracker.

Our elf, Julie

Our Elf on the Shelf, Julie (Emma named him and insists on continuing to call him Julie even if he is a boy), poised to watch the girls for another day so he can report back to Santa.

Christmas Spirit

Our little menagerie. I've learned that lawn ornaments are a must-have / must-do...I can't imagine what it will look like next year when Mark is back (anyone seen Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase?)....

WE LOVE YOU DADDY!