We had an amazing Christmas celebration as we created new traditions. The day before Christmas Eve we headed to Old Town to see Santa, take a carriage ride and have a family dinner. It was so much fun! Fort Collins does an amazing job lighting up the town and their Santa is awesome! They bring in a little log cabin and have heaters outside. While we waited in line, we grabbed hot cocoas (with homemade marshmallows!) and a croissant from a local bakery for a treat. Once you get up to the cabin they let one family go in at a time to visit with Santa. Grace still isn't certain about this Santa guy. She talked to him but wouldn't sit with him for a picture--until Mark and I agreed to join her :-)
The frozen fountain in the Old Town Square
Waiting for Santa in our favorite spot
Kisses for Daddy
Uncertainty, and then...
Excitement!
After seeing Santa we went on a carriage ride through Old Town. Our horse was named Donald (much bigger than Brownie who Grace rides at the Farm, as she pointed out). It was a great way to see the town.
Following the carriage ride we tried a new pizza place and then tried to go to the Chocolate Cafe for dessert. Unfortunately it was a bit too busy so we settled on ice cream with chocolate sauce at home.
This was my favorite part of the house this Christmas. We didn't have a fireplace in West Lafayette so we had never gotten a stocking for Grace. We all got new stockings this year (from left to right: Grace, Daisy, E, Mark) and ordered one extra for Baby :-) The stockings and the nativity on the mantle made me smile every time I walked into our family room.
This is also Grace's favorite place in the house. She likes doing her ballet and pretending to a teacher from this perch.
We just hung out at home on Christmas Eve until it church time. We went to the childrens' service at 3 p.m. and didn't know what to expect. They had costumes for all the kids but when we Grace didn't seem interested in wearing the angel's halo/wings so we skipped it. Bad idea! About half way through the service the children started going up after their specific passages of the Christmas story (e.g., the angels appeared and the angels went up; the shepards learned of the birth of Christ and the shepards and sheep went up). Well, when the first group of angels went up, Grace sat down pouting and was nearly in tears. When I asked what was the matter, she said, "I want to be up there!" So when the song ended and before the next group went up, Grace slipped out into the aisle and marched up to the front of the church to sit with the other little girls. Mark and I couldn't believe our eyes. She definitely is not timid!
Sitting up with the other kids.
After church we had a crab leg dinner and got in our Christmas jammies (Grace's had big polka dots and mine had little--as she pointed out several times).
We also had to get our cookies out for Santa. We left cookies, milk and carrots for the reindeer. Grace was very excited and also wanted to leave the Santa craft that she had made at the Farm for Santa to see.
Our tree after Santa had come
Santa delivered Chica who was waiting anxiously for Grace to wake up!
Holiday cheer at the Williams'
Our gift from Grace
Grace slept in on Christmas morning--I was lying in bed begging Mark to let me wake her up. She finally came in just after 7 and informed me that she didn't think Santa had come since she hadn't heard him. We had her sit at the top of the stairs so we could go down and make sure he had come and that we didn't have to sleep anymore.
The first thing Grace did was run to check the cookies. She was so excited and all day kept saying, "Santa ate all my cookies, drank my milk, and the reindeer ate all my carrots!" After that she checked the stockings and then FINALLY rant to check the tree. We had squeals of "Chica!!!!" and she grabbed her with hugs. It was a great morning of opening presents, having lunch, playing with the new toys, and packing for our Christmas trip.
We truly feel blessed with all of the wonderful things that have happened this last year and love the life and traditions that we are making "out West!" Merry Christmas!
