Nutcracker

Our family enjoyed our tradition of watching the ballet the Nutcracker. It was beautiful as always but this year was exceptional. The new costumes were amazing and the new characters refreshing! Cade sat SO nicely and Claire enjoyed it even more than the year before. We all went to Applebees after for some half price appetizers and some fun chatter. 

Cade and Claire were so tired that they truly cracked us up. They both began coloring with such passion that we hardly knew that they were there! It was as if they had stopped coloring they would have fallen asleep :) By the end of the evening Claire was sitting at the table's end with her little fists under her chin and soon her eyes began to close. Jace thought that she was just so cute that he had to take her picture for his phone. She opened her eyes as he was taking the picture and managed to squeeze out a smile as he snapped his photo!  She never missed an opportunity to pose. 

Cade was so involved with coloring that he had not taken much time to eat. He panicked as the twelve o'clock hour came and we went to leave. He saw the left over food on the table and began to shove what he could in his mouth as we were putting on his coat. He even took a chip through his coat sleeve with him and handed it to me as his hand popped out. He needed to make room for another handful. It was just so funny. 

They both slept very well that evening. They could hardly wake up the next morning to head to church for the Family Christmas Breakfast and Crafts time. They made it though and had a great time making ornaments and hearing Christmas stories. 

It really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in our home. It has less to do with the decorations but with unity our family begins to feel as we spend time together doing our holiday traditions. I sometimes forget how blessed I am that James has been home and not deployed for most of our time in the military. He has left for a short while to go to school and will be home well before Christmas day but we will still miss him as we wrap gifts and prepare for the day. Although we miss him our thoughts and prayers go out to those families who will not see their husband, wife, father, mother, son or daughter this holiday season as they continue to serve our country from afar. Many blessings to each of you as you walk out this holiday. Merry Christmas to you all from our house to yours.