Tis the Season!

We've been thoroughly enjoying ourselves the past while with getting ready for Christmas.  Since we weren't sure when we would be traveling to Ethiopia, the majority of the Christmas shopping got done before Thanksgiving, which means we've had more time to actually enjoy the season.  I think I'll try to get shopping done ahead of time next year, too!

We've been baking regularly over here, partly because we wanted to give homemade bread as gifts, and partly because it's such a fun activity when we're cooped up in the house anyway.  Kate and her friend Joel have loved helping to put ingredients in, and with bread I'll give them each a piece of dough to knead.  As you can tell by the flour explosion, it was a hit. :)

We had our ward Christmas party this past weekend, and Santa visited at the end.  After last year where Kate was bordering on phobic of Santa, I didn't have any intention on purposely taking her to see him.  She still wasn't excited to see him, she actually hid on her chair when he walked in, and she told me a couple times that she didn't want to go talk to him, but once she realized that he was handing out GIFT BAGS she decided the tradeoff was worth it.  Fortunately, the kids weren't sitting on his lap, so there wasn't any pressure to get very close to him.  He asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and she pointed to the sack filled with bags and said "I want a bag".  Overall, I think it was a good experience for her.  She got semi close, she actually spoke to him, and there were no tears.  We'll count that as a win.

Also on Saturday, it snowed like crazy, and this winter Kate has been fascinated by playing outside in the snow.  I took her out the first time it snowed this fall, which she loved, but I'm pretty much a wimp, so if she's wanting to play in the snow and Kerry is home, I try really hard to get her to ask him.  And as the great dad that he is, Kerry is usually really excited to go out with her.

They got all dressed up...

And then threw snowballs at the school...

And then made a snowman...

And then made snow angels.

There was also plenty of jumping over and in the full icy gutters, which meant that her boots were soaking, but she didn't seem to mind.  We finally had to carry her inside because she was so upset about not being able to stay out there all day.