some Christmas traditions and the blizzard of the decade

Christmas is my favorite time of year. This year has been more fun because we've been able to start more traditions with the girls. They are still not really aware that anything is "different" around here. The tree and other decorations don't seem to phase them that much. We are reading A LOT of Christmas books multiple times so I think they may see some connection to the stories and the things they see around the house. We are having fun nonetheless! 

One of the traditions we started was using the advent calendar that I had when I was a kid. I remember everything about the calendar; from all the pieces to telling my mom where to pin the pieces on the tree each day. My brother and I would take turns; I would get the odd days since my birthday is the 11th. He would get the even days. The present would always go on the 11th, the baby Jesus on the 25th, the star on the 24th, and the church on the day of our Christmas program. 

Now the girls love coming down the stairs in the morning and telling me where to place each pin on the tree.

The girls with their advent calendar after pinning the present under the tree for Mommy's birthday.

On Friday, I took the girls to Macy's downtown Mpls to walk through the 8th floor auditorium display. We met Nana and Papa there. We did this last year as well (Daddy was able to come last year). I like that we go on or near my birthday because I like to do Christmasy stuff for my birthday. While the girls disliked riding in the elevator to the 8th floor, they had a fun time walking through the display. Little Pie was a koala and needed Nana or Papa to carry her through the whole thing. Little Bird wanted to walk on her own, hold the brochure they gave us at the beginning, and point to practically everything and ask "what's that mama?!". 

Little Pie is not sure what is going on and if she should be happy or sad.

What are we doing again? Am I going to like it? I'm really hesitant!

What's THAT mama!?!?!

Tentatively meeting Mrs. Claus. She did pretty well!

Not posing for a picture.

We got to see Santa afterward. It did not go well!

Choosing and eating cookies made up for the whole Santa debacle!

Finally the girls wrote letters to Santa and "mailed" them too!

I got to have the rest of the afternoon "off" to get my hair cut, shop and get a manicure. Then I got to go out to dinner with my girlfriends to celebrate my birthday. It was a WONDERFUL afternoon and evening! Uncle Rye babysat for a little bit and then he and Daddy made the girls supper, gave them baths and put them to bed. I was so happy to have some time to myself and to celebrate my birthday.

Good thing I got all of that in yesterday because today we are stuck in our house. The Blizzard of the Decade is wreaking havoc outside! We have gotten close to a foot of snow already, the winds are blowing up to 25 mph. Snow is blowing everywhere and the temperatures are dropping fast. We will probably get another 6-12 inches of snow and tonight the temperatures will drop below zero. The high tomorrow will be 3. There will be no playing in this snow!

It's hard to see the blowing snow, but it's coming down sideways.

Because of this blizzard, Daddy and I will not be able to go out for my birthday. I am incredibly disappointed. I have been looking forward to this for weeks. It's not often that your birthday falls on a weekend so I was so excited to finally go on a date! Since we never went out for our anniversary in November (which again was on a weekend this year), I really thought we needed a night out. Now we will be eating frozen pizza and watching Love Actually with the half full bottle of wine we have in the house. 

At least I don't feel bad about all of us staying in our jammies all day!