See? Look how proud Isabella is of hers - ha ha! (Really she was.)
...the girls' Christmas party - Andrew getting ready to go...
Gianna, ever my very imaginative girl, is "being" Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer this month. She was elated to finally get to wear her prized blinking red nose and jingle bell around her neck in public!
Mike even came to the party!
Gianna wrapping up my box of kisses - my most prized possession now! 
...trying to appreciate the beauty of winter. The kids and I were taking a drive out past our house after their Christmas party, and since I had my camera with me for the party, I saw this and had to stop for a picture. I love the peacefulness that snow brings. It's just the driving in it that scares me silly!
...dipping everything in chocolate that we could get our hands on! We've dipped different kinds of candy, pretzels, and nuts so far!
And adding sprinkles...
and sprinkles...
and sprinkles!
...a new tradition - our own personal elf from the North Pole! The girls named him Harold. Harold watches us all day, then reports back to Santa at night. Each morning, just for our amusement, he's in a new spot. Even Andrew wakes up saying, "where's Hawold?" He was hiding here a few mornings ago...
Thank you Brian and Melissa for this new tradition!!! The kids are going to miss Harold after Christmas!...celebrating the girls' first day of Christmas break with (vegan) holiday spice cupcakes! I saw Bethanny Frankel make these on the Ellen show, and they taste so good!
I love Meri Meri cupcake sets! They make cupcakes instantly festive! Next year I'd like to get the Nutcracker set. And I'd love to get a #9pt icing tip for more professional looking cupcakes. But for now we'll just appreciate the homemade look - ha ha! 
...enjoying the first snow, especially the hot cocoa afterwards!
You can see here how much it was blowing...
...another new tradition - our new advent calendar! One of my goals for this holiday season was to make this. It wasn't hard, but it was a bit time-consuming. I just tried to do one number a day or so for a while so it wasn't a big deal. I can't believe we're up to #3 already!
It was a craft on the Martha Stewart show last year. If you're interested, directions can be found here.
...baking. Last weekend we got all of this out. Can you guess what we were getting ready to make? I bet you wouldn't guess...
Doggy treats! They are gingerbread and vegan, super healthy, even the girls and I loved them!(Recipe here.) We passed them out to all the doggies at the animal shelter on Monday afternoon. It's always so hard to see the shelter dogs. The only thing that makes it bearable is that we have a no-kill shelter. But still, it's heart-breaking seeing all those eyes on you begging for attention. 
...putting together the girls' teacher's gifts - I felt bad just giving gift cards, but I was happy with how they turned out by just having the girls put candy canes in a bag with them. Easy-peasy, cheap, and cute!
