Christmas Preparations

Christmas is coming and we have been busy decking the halls when we get the chance around our house. We had a party at church and everyone was supposed to bring a plate of cookies to share. Tanja, Karina, and I got into the fun of baking and decorating. Karina did well and I was surprised that we didn't end up with more of a mess after it was over.  Here's our baker in training:

And the best-looking results of our labors (we kept the lesser samples at home for us to eat):

Even Snoopy gets into the Christmas spirit. His favorite Christmas tradition? A long winter's nap, of course.

We went to the Washington DC Temple for their Festival of Lights for a performance of a Ukrainian Christmas presentation and to see the lights and decorations. One of the many Christmas trees in the Visitor's Center was decorated with many different countries' flags. We made sure to point out the Norwegian one to Karina.

It was a handy place to take a few pictures.

Then we went outside for the lights. The life-size nativity was a hit - Karina climbed up onto the camel set outside the nativity.

Here's the best family photo we got while down there. It's always a struggle to get everyone looking in the same direction and smiling at the same time, as well as finding someone who can take a picture that's not blurry.

Our community/HOA has a fun tradition of Santa riding through the neighborhoods riding on a fire truck. There are two neighboring towns by our house and the fire departments from both of them have the same tradition. As luck would have it, they both came through our neighborhood this year. The first time, when we heard the sirens announcing Santa's arrival, the girls had just gone to bed. I ran up to Karina's room and asked her if she wanted to go meet Santa. She said OK, so we ran downstairs, threw her coat on, and went outside where we got down the driveway before she said she was cold and didn't care that much. I admit I was a little disappointed, but it doesn't make sense to project my childhood excitement onto Karina, so if she didn't care, then I suppose I shouldn't either.

When I saw the sign at a nearby intersection in our neighborhood announcing that Santa would be coming with the other fire department yesterday, I got excited again, and we made plans to try to get the girls there when we heard the sirens. After waiting all evening, and giving up hope, we got the girls into the bathtub and I started washing them up. Then Tanja came rushing in saying she heard the fire trucks, and it was time to get out, because Santa was coming! We hurried and got the girls dried off and dressed, and ran out to greet Santa. A real Christmas miracle! The only problem was that this Santa and Mrs. Claus didn't bring candy canes (the other fire department does). Karina is still talking about how she wished Santa brought her a candy cane. Oh well.

Here's Lydia sitting on my shoulders in her pajamas so she could see the fire engine and Santa over the crowd gathered to greet him.

Lydia did not appreciate being placed on the lap of a strange jolly old elf.

Karina thought it was fun and made sure to tell Santa and Mrs. Claus what she wanted for Christmas (a little house and a cash register with red, green, and yellow coins).  Lydia still was not happy.

We made sure to get a picture next to the fire engine too.

Here's Lydia just being cute trying to climb up into her booster seat.

Lydia recently had her 18-month checkup. She was OK in the doctor's office until we were called back and the nurse had Tanja stand her up on the scale. At that moment, the realization hit Lydia that she would be the patient, and she started screaming non-stop. It got so traumatic for her that she puked all over Tanja; my guess is that was because she was swallowing so much air from screaming and we had given her something to drink in an effort to calm her down that she got some bubbles and a full stomach and up it came. Lydia got her Hepatitis A shot and a flu shot. Since we were there, we asked if Karina could get her flu shot as well. Of course, then Karina got scared too. I will say that I was really proud of her and impressed that she didn't cry at all when the nurse gave her the shot, though she did complain a little bit later that day that she was hurting. She was very brave.

Of course, once we finished and the girls got their lollipops, they calmed down and all was well.

Since we keep track of such things here, these are Lydia's 18 month stats:
Height: 35 inches (99th %)
Head Circumference: 49 cm (97th %)
Weight: 26 lbs 6oz (88th %)