Snow, and other randomness

When things get busy, as they usually do this time of year, I have a tendency to go into hibernation mode.  I do what I have to do and go where I am expected to be, but other than that, I like to hide at home with my nose in a book, pretending I shouldn't be doing something else (wrapping gifts, grading papers, addressing Christmas cards, etc., etc....).  I am a classic procrastinator/avoider.

What I am trying to say is that I have been neglecting the blog a little and that my avoidance probably won't end until after the holidays are gone... when I can get back to my regularly scheduled time-wasting habits.

Anyway, on with our update!

We got a little dusting of snow here on Monday, which of course made everyone a little crazy.  Snow!  In Alabama!  In December!  Yes, it is true that we are so ill-prepared for snow that an inch or so can completely shut down our town.  Schools were cancelled and many people got to stay home from work.  Although I had to go to work, Jeremy was off anyway, so he spent the morning hanging out with Addison & Mackenzie.  They got to go outside and play in the snow for the first time ever.  My poor little snow-deprived babies were thrilled with the dusting of white powder that was on the ground.

We had several days when the high temperatures were around 25 degrees, which again, is highly unusual for December in Alabama (and is also contributing to my urge to hibernate).  I am glad to say that it is slightly warmer today, with a whopping 40 degrees expected.

Yesterday we went to the Christmas program for the girls' school.  They won't be participating until next year, but mom and I thought they would enjoy watching the other kids.  They did okay, until they spotted the food table behind our seats and began furiously signing 'eat'.  We snuck a few cookies and stood in the back for the remainder of the performance.

I tried to get some pictures of Addison & Mackenzie in front of our tree before we left for the program.  Mackenzie (in the black turtleneck) was tolerating the picture session; Addison most assuredly was not.  I got one good picture of the two of them (they don't need smiles to be cute, right?), then they snagged an ornament off the tree and five seconds later, the ornament was on the ground in a million pieces.

Addison looks like I have threatened her to make her stand still.

Do you see Addison over there doing her own thing?

Our two (failed) attempts at a group shot:

Two things might become pretty obvious after looking at these pictures...

First, the Christmas tree love is still going strong in our house.  When the girls get up in the morning, we have to go "wake up" the tree and turn the lights on.  They also have to tell the tree "night-night" about three times each before going to bed.  I am considering keeping it up all year long for the amount of entertainment the tree has provided.

The second thing you might deduce from the pictures is that Mackenzie and Addison are becoming quite the handful these days.  They are constantly on the move, from the time they get up until they finally crash at night.  My poor mom is exhausted most days, and by the end of the evening, I am too!  Bedtime has moved back to between 7:30 and 8:00 each night, and when they go to bed, I have little energy left to do anything but crash on the couch for an hour or two before heading to bed myself.  As exhasting as they are, it is SO fun to watch them grow and change so quickly.  They amaze me with something new every single day.

I might sound like I am complaining in the beginning of this post, but really, I am loving this time of year and all the excitement that goes along with it.  I love wrapping presents and checking gifts off my list, and I love hibernating from daily responsibilities in order to focus on my family.  I can hardly believe that Christmas is only eight days away.  Instead of focusing on all that I have left to do, I am choosing to enjoy the anticipation of seeing my two little girls experience their first taste of Christmas-morning excitement.

We have done some talking about the meaning of the Christmas season, though the girls are still too young to understand.  I came in the other day to find Jeremy leading them in singing 'Happy Birthday', after he explained that Christmas is when we celebrate baby Jesus being born.  My girls have a pretty awesome daddy.  : )