Silent Night, Holy Night

For some reason Christmas seemed to sneak up on me this year.  I knew it would be December 25th just like every other year and I had my Christmas cards printed by Thanksgiving, but for some reason I just never felt ready this year...and now it is over and done.


Our trip to Dallas helped us get into the festive spirit and after a good nights rest it was time for Christmas Eve.  We had a fun day of tennis and bike rides outside since the weather was so nice and enjoyed a Christmas Eve pajama party that evening with my folks and Tara.  We ate our traditional "Holiday Nachos" as well as little smokies, shrimp, cheeseballs and lots of sweets.  Soon it was time to read our On This Special Night book and get snuggled in our bed for a long winter's nap.

Sugar plums must have been dancing in the girls heads because we didn't hear a peep from them until almost 7:00am.  We were all surprised with Santa's generous gifts and found a few crumbs and his leftover lime he had eaten.  (Isabelle left him a sugar cookie and lime??  I guess to go with his Diet Coke?)  The highlights of this year's gifts were the American Girl Dolls that the girls received, a Lego table and lots of legos, a Houston Zoo Membership and Olivia's red sparkly Dorthy shoes.  Grammie, Grandpa and Tara came over again to see all of our loot and to play with some of our new toys and before we knew it the day was drawing near and it was time for a yummy Christmas dinner made by Grammie.

The girls were thrilled and exhausted after a magical Christmas day and once again we found ourselves tucked into our beds and this time being grateful for all that we have been blessed with.  I am not sure what I could have done differently this year to be more "prepared" or to feel more of the "Christmas spirit" but the holidays came and went regardless of my feelings.  I am so grateful for the Savior and for Mary's brave soul. Now that I am a mother I can't help but feel extra reverence for Mary and Joseph and the feelings they must have felt on that Holy Night.

All is calm, all is bright. 

Round yon virgin, mother and child.

Holy infant so tender and mild.

Sleep in Heavenly peace, sleep in Heavenly peace.

Pre-Christmas, Cosby style in DFW

With several of the brothers making a stop home at the Cosby Homestead this holiday season we knew we needed to plan a trip north too, so we decided to skip the last two days of 1st grade for the year and packed our bags for some holiday fun.


And fun it was indeed. We played games, danced, visited ICE at the Gaylord Texas, danced some more, opened Christmas presents, performed the Nativity play, went tubing on man-made snow and danced a little more. The girls loved all of the action and busyness of a full house and Ben and I loved seeing lots of our Cosby family who we don't get to see nearly enough.


Grandma and Grandpa gave the girls Disney's Rapunzel dress-up costumes for Christmas and they loved not only dressing themselves up but all of their uncles as well. Thankfully Jacob, Seth, Joe and Gordon were all good sports and took turns being the Prince.

Quickly the time passed and we were packing our bags yet again but this time to head home as a foursome instead. We were all sad to say our goodbyes but grateful that we could spend a few days with (most of) our family in Dallas. Thankfully the thought of it being Christmas Eve-Eve and Mr. Clause filling his sleigh made the trip home a bit more exciting that usual and soon we were tucked into our own beds at home. What a blessing this time of year is and also the feasibility we have to travel and visit loved ones often.

I wish it could be Christmas all year long.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

My girls love to perform. It must be something they inherited from their dad, although he would beg to differ, but I was never much of a performer myself. Sadly my girls will probably grow more self-conscience as time goes on, so for now I will relish in their love of being on stage.

We started the Christmas season off with a Reindeer ballet performed by Olivia and her class. Livi had double ear infections at the time as well as broncilitis but she was thrilled to get on her tutu nonetheless. Grammie made the trip over for the special performance and we all loved watching little Livi dance and twirl to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and feel so special.

Next, was Isabelle's Christmas piano recital. Two of her favorite little girlfriends also take piano lessons so she, Emily and Abigail always look forward to seeing each other at recitals. Isabelle is seeming to be a bit of a natural at the piano, again something she inherited mostly from her dad, so Mrs. Abbott decided to give her a level 2 piece to try and tackle for this recital. Isabelle loved the challenge of a more difficult piece and played her first chord. This time Grammie and Grandpa were both able to attend and even brought her candy cane striped flowers to celebrate. Isabelle played We Wish You a Merry Christmas beautifully and Olivia almost sat quietly for the whole recital.

Lastly, we enjoyed a lovely ballet as well as jazz holiday performance by Belle. She had worked very hard on a special Christmas ballet called Sleep Well Little Children that I thoroughly enjoyed watching her dance. She has a long graceful body and it is fun when the steps start to make sense to them and you can see them learning and really feeling the rhythm. Again, Grammie made the trip over for the performance and even spent her 42nd wedding anniversary night at a celebratory dinner at Culvers with us.

The Christmas music and carols are one of the highlights of the entire holiday season and seeing your sweet girls perform to the likes of them is icing on the cake. Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la.

A big girl date to... The Nutracker

Isabelle and I loved going to The Nutcracker last year with my mom. It was what inspired Belle to begin dancing ballet again this year in hopes that someday she too could perform as a Sugar Plum Fairy. This year my mom was going to be celebrating 42 years of marriage in Vegas so Belle and I bought tickets with her two best little girlfriends and had a big girl date of six!

Isabelle, Emily and Paloma are all in different 1st grade classes this year but that hasn't stopped their friendship one bit. They were thrilled to get dressed up and all ride together to lunch with just their moms. (They all three are the big sisters to baby sisters. Funny how that worked out.)

After a lunch date where we needed no high chairs or boosters we made our way to the theatre and greatly enjoyed The Nutcracker. The girls danced all the way to the cars afterwards and all slept tight with their mini-nutcracker dolls Isabelle purchased especially for her friends and this day. What a beautiful and graceful holiday tradition. I cannot wait until Olivia is old enough to join us on another big girl Nutcracker date in the future.

Cookies with Santa

This post is a lot about myself. Sorta odd I know, but I will turn it into a tribute to my mother.

When I was in Elementary School my mom was the PTO President. I certainly didn't really know what that meant at the time but I knew that my mom came to school with me all the time and that my baby sister (probably Olivia's age) Alex came too. Fast forward 25 years and here I sit with an elementary daughter of my own and as the Chairman of Family and Cultural Events at her school. Maybe it is because this is how I was raised, or maybe it is my public service passion getting the best of me, but either way I feel it is my obligation to support the school Isabelle attends and do my best to make it better.

Last year with it being both Belle and my first years in this arena I just sat on a few committees and helped out as needed, but when the time came around this year I got nominated for the Family Events title and although I knew it was a bit more than I wanted to bite off, I agreed. So far Livi and I have pulled off a "Lunch with Our Hero's" for the September 11th memorial and also the Houston Grand Opera performing Hansel and Gretel for 600 small children. Both events were wonderful and although taxing, worth my effort. None however were quite as exhausting as my biggest event of the year, Cookies with Santa, a Saturday event for every family at Creekside Forest Elementary.

It was definitely a family affair with Ben working overtime on my assignments and Olivia and Isabelle both staying late after school and going early other days. My mom even put on her PTO hat once more the day of the event and came with thank-you gifts for all of my committee members as well as spent the day wrangling Livi and Leo...who we happened to be babysitting for the day.

After hours planning, working and worrying the event took place and was a great success. Santa arrived on the firetruck while Ben drove his truck. 400+ kids sat on his lap and filled his big heavy bag with lists and personal notes. We made reindeer food and Christmas cards and we served over 800 cookies and little cartons of milk. The cafeteria was filled with holiday music and Christmas artwork from every kid in the school and there were no noticeable mis-steps. Of course you learn what you would do different next year and what you wouldn't change, but overall I am very pleased and very much relived that the event is in the history books.

Isabelle and I were the first ones in the school that Saturday morning and the last to leave Saturday afternoon. Our feet were tired and we desperately needed a Diet Dr. Pepper...and some apple juice. As climbed into the car Belle turned to me and said Mom, you were awesome. You raised that whole thing up all by yourself! And it was at that moment in time that I knew that it was all worth it and that was absolutely why I volunteered my time and energy. I used to be that little girl with the awesome mom too.

Turkey Trouble

We have so much to be thankful for and November is a great reminder to count our many blessings.

First, we are so grateful for our two little girls. Isabelle and Olivia are both healthy, smart and sweet girls and Ben and I are not sure what to do with ourselves whenever we find a quiet moment alone. (Fortunately that rarely seems to happen.) Both girls performed a festive dance in their dance classes that they had worked on for weeks prior to the holiday. Isabelle performed the Turkey Tango in jazz style and Olivia did the Turkey Wobble in 2-year old ballet style. I am their mother, so I cannot give an unbiased opinion, but they were both stars. They loved dancing for all of the parents to see and Isabelle even skipped school one day to attend Olivia's dancing debut.

We are also thankful for our extended family and living in a day and age where traveling and communication is so simple. We were fortunate enough to share the Thanksgiving holiday with ALL of the Christensen family this year and we had fun from sun up to sun down.

We celebrated an early surprise birthday party for Max that Isabelle was thrilled to plan. We met for lunch with balloons, presents and an 8 candle and then made our way over to The Woodlands Ice Rink where we skated in the warmest skating rink ever. It was mid-80's outside and the ice was literally melting as we skated. The kids had so much fun trying to stay on their feet and got better and better with every lap.

Thanksgiving morning we began the festivities with the annual Turkey Trot and again were drenched in sweat with a warm run. We all got cleaned up for family pictures and then enjoyed a yummy turkey dinner with all the trimmings made by Grammie. Once we finished all of the dishes and a piece of pumpkin pie, it was time to kick off the Christmas holiday and all 4 of the grandkids went to bed with brand new holiday jammies from Grammie and Grandpa. The rest of us raced through the newspaper and quickly made a Black Friday game plan. Alee, Tara, my mom and I hit Target and Walmart like professionals and were in and out with a heafty amount of money spent in a matter of minutes. We then made good on our yearly promise and woke little Isabelle for round two of shopping at 5:00am. Isabelle almost jumped literally out of bed and before we had even left the garage said This is the best day ever.

We spent the rest of the weekend going to the movies, sleeping in, eating leftovers and enjoying our time together. The warm Texas weather reminded us even more how much we have to be grateful for and I pray that we can keep the spirit of Thanksgiving in our hearts everyday until next November.