Fa-La-La-La-La-ing

At the beginning of the month, we decked our halls and visited with Santa.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have continued to be full of holiday cheer and it's safe to say there has been a lot of "fa-la-la-ing" going on around here!

There were school performances for both kids...

Gracie's class signed, "A Groovy Christmas" and the whole Deaf and Hard of Hearing program (bottom picture in the collage) signed "The Magic of Christmas Day."

Love the smiling faces in Gracie's class! 
And, I LOVE how Christopher has his hand on Gracie's leg!  So sweet!

These pics were taken by the mom of one of Preston's friends.  They are, in a word, adorable.
There is so much to say about this night, but aside from the absolute precious preschoolers ages 2-5 performing in front of over 300 people, the best part of the evening was that the director of Preston's school set aside seats for us in the front row of the theater so that Gracie would be able to see.  She had an absolute blast watching the kids (they also signed a song!), feeling the music and seeing the lights that bordered the stage. 

We thoroughly enjoyed a visit from my brother, Uncle Brian, who delivered hand-me-downs and hand-me-backs for TieBreaker, and who, despite missing his own family so very much, stayed an extra day to attend Preston's performance. (It's all Preston talked about for days leading up to his arrival. He literally ran around the house chanting, "Un-cle Bri-an" over and over!)

We wrapped a lot of presents. A lot. Well, I wrapped a lot and had a very cute helper!

The kids each received a very special mail.

We spent considerable time in the kitchen giving our beloved red mixer a serious workout.

As is our tradition, the kids make a sheet of cookie cutter sugar cookies and get free reign to decorate as they wish.

  The evening we did this, I just didn't have the patience (or stamina!) for making frosting and then cleaning up (both the kids and the kitchen!), so sprinkles galore was the name of the game.  
This process is hilarious to me... it is much less about decorating by "sprinkling" and more of a "dump-the-bottle" and move on to the next cookie!