Baking for Santa

I love Christmas...everything about it! I love all the extra activities, I love shopping for the perfect gifts, I love all the extra excitement that fills the air, I love the magic of Christmas, I just love it all! I usually do my best to try and balance everything, sometimes staying up way too late to get it all done. But, it's just one month out of the year. I also do my best to balance the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, with the magic and excitement of Santa. I have found this to not always be easy, but certainly worth trying because I love both! This year the kids and I have worked our way through The Jesse Tree and it's been great! I have to be honest though, we have missed the past few days and will start back up after Christmas. The devotions/stories are great and the kids will love finishing up....even a few days late. Anyway, the point of all that is to say that while I usually do my best to balance everything, there is one thing I don't usually have to factor in....pregnancy! This is my first Christmas pregnant, and my first pregnancy being exhausted! Maybe it's because I have two kids, or the fact that I don't get enough sleep because I stay up finishing projects and get up early to get Kate ready for Kindergarten, or maybe it's because my iron is low....or maybe all three. But whatever it is, this baby keeps me TIRED! I never felt this way past the first trimester with Kate or Gabe, but Grant sure wants me to sleep! I hope that doesn't mean he is telling me to sleep now while I still have a chance....Kate and Gabe were pretty easy babies so I won't know what to do if he isn't. :/ Back to today, it's Christmas Eve and the kids and I are in the kitchen baking together...for the first time all month! I feel terrible, but hopefully we can do some of our typical "before Christmas fun" next week when life is a little more calm...

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The kids helped make our sugar cookie dough, rolled it all out on the very floured table, and started pressing on cookie cutters. Then they made round cookies and loaded them down with M&Ms, kisses, and sprinkles! Santa will have lots of yummy cookies to choose from this year!

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Time to put the cookie creations in the oven!

Everything might not have gone exactly according to plan this year, or right on schedule, but we have still had lots of fun this December and are very ready for Christmas!!! And next year, we will be a family of five making all new memories, and learning how to do everything with a baby in tow! :)