The Third Week of Advent

Our priest got to wear his rose vestments on Gaudete Sunday!

We began our Christmas making and baking this week. Cecilia helped load the food processor full of starlight mints... you would not believe how fast they turned to mere powder in this bad boy... under ten seconds!!!!

Caroline helped unwrap many of the mints. Each one was individually wrapped, and we had to unwrap two packages full. Plus, we will be making another batch of this, too!

Stirring it all up... not going to tell you what it is - it is a surprise for those who will receive it and is a new recipe this year!

More unwrapping fun... Hershey's Kisses and Rolos! These were a fun, kid-friendly, and easy treat to make. Pretzels, Hershey Kisses, and M & Ms for one, and pretzels, Rolos, and pecan halves for the other.

Even Cecilia could unwrap and place the Hershey Kisses... and try to eat a Rolo, which surprised her by causing her teeth to stick together!

So, here's blowing this surprise... here is what they look like at the end. If you will be receiving some, here is a sneak peek!

And these are just delicious... they are little turtle candies, basically, and we bought some fresh Georgia pecans to use on them... so, extended family, if you don't get any of these from us for Christmas, it is because they are all in my belly. :)

We began getting out decorations slowly this week... just a few knick-knacks here and there throughout the weekdays. Caroline and Cecilia love watching this snowglobe where the snowman and penguin ride a seesaw inside it while the music plays. Well, they loved watching it, that is... unfortunately, the manufacturer apparently didn't see fit to use waterproof glue to attach the little fellas to the seesaw, and the piece on which they were sitting just randomly fell off a couple days after we got it out. Bummer. Now they are focusing all attention on the snowman that plays Christmas carols when you clap (or yell) near him. I wasn't going to get him out, but then I did to replace the snowglobe.

On Saturday, we got our tree! I went errand-running while Chris took the girls to choose a tree. Apparently nobody else waits this long to buy their tree... they didn't have any left in the appropriate size anywhere. They ended up getting a too-tall tree and having the bottom 18 inches cut off! It is a huge, beautiful tree, bigger than we've ever had. And, it was on sale, since we waited "so long." We may need to pick up a fake tree on clearance after Christmas so next year, we won't feel pressured to buy one early.

Cecilia couldn't quite figure out how to hang ornaments up... but she tried a bit with some help.

Caroline loved the excuse to climb on the armchair to hang things high up.

Over the weekend, I started on our gingerbread man cookies... the recipe makes a lot and is somewhat time-intensive, so the girls helped with the first rolling and cutting and then went on a walk with Daddy while I tried to do the rest. The baking sheets were brutal this year... I finally only did batches on the old, cheapie pizza dish and the Silpat. Otherwise, they all would have broken and crumbled when I tried to scrape them off! Usually only one baking sheet gives me trouble (the nicest, newest one)...

The girls helped me get out the Christmas houses - very carefully, that is. I did all the lifting of the breakable parts, while Caroline helped retrieve boxes... and they loved watching, because each house is very detailed. The village is supposed to be the North Pole, and it is just lots of imaginative fun! Cecilia wants to see the reindeer every day and asks for us to lift her up to see them.

The tree, all decorated on the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Look Around the Stable after the third week: we added a shepherd's crook, a rake, a hoe, grain, a loaf of bread, a saddlebag, and a blanket. Stable's getting full!!

Mary and Joseph joined together on top of the radio to begin their journey to Bethlehem, and by the end of the week, they were in the stable, awaiting Jesus's birth. The nativity is way up high out of little hands' reach... we tried it down low, and the girls are obsessed with it (you'd never guess they have some wooden nativity figures that I let them play with). After the cow lost the tip of his horn, the stable got moved up high permanently. It was pretty dumb of me to attempt to put it down low, anyway!

Three candles were lit this week... Caroline was excited that it was finally the rose candle's turn!

The manger is getting fuller, too!

Christmas is almost here!