December 11th and 12th...

December 11th...

We FINALLY put the tree up! I was beginning to think that we were never going to get around to it. Our weekends have just been so crazy lately.

Jeff put the garland on...
with some help from Alex...
He wasn't feeling all that great. The kids were supposed to sing in a program at church that night, but with Alex not feeling well and Clara being run down with Nutcracker opening weekend stuff, we decided to take it easy and stay home.

Clara was extremely excited about decorating the tree...
(she's looking a little "Flash Dance" here because she had just came home from doing a make-up class in Broadway Jazz... the end of semester is going to be here before we know it and need to get those make-ups done - keeping caught up on make-ups has been the bane of my existence lately!)

Clara's little angel found a home...
Jeff and I were rather uninvolved this year. The kids did most (if not all) of the decorating.

Oh... and Mango isn't spoiled at all...
... is she? :-)

December 12th...

A semi normal day, except taking Clara to ballet early so she could fit in another make-up before her class began.

We did get some exciting news though! Clara's preschool friend from Texas will be visiting Chicago this weekend and will be at Clara's Sunday night performance! They had looked up the cast list online, bought tickets and surprised us with the news yesterday! They're staying out in the 'burbs with friends, but we're going to try to get the girls together before the show!

After dropping Clara off at ballet and while Alex was at his young ensemble group, I had time at home, alone, to sit in the dark by the tree....
... it's my favorite thing ... quiet and the soft glow of the lights!