Highlights of Christmas

Christmas 2017 looked something like this:

1.  It snowed!  It did not snow on Christmas, it only snowed for one hour, and the snow melted an hour later.  Nonetheless, it snowed!  Snow in December in the valley definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.

2.  My mom sent Katy an advent calendar stuffed with lots of little surprises, including an entire set of Daniel Tiger figurines. Daniel Tiger was a very new favorite of Katy's at the time, so it must have been Christmas magic that moved my mom to buy Daniel Tiger figurines for the calendar.   

3.  Aunt Lynda visited, which made Katy so happy that she ran to the door shouting, "Mi amiga Lynda, Mi Amiga Lynda!"  Lynda did not disappoint.  She spent the evening decorating a gingerbread house with Katy.     

4.  Chris and I attended his office Christmas party without Katy, which was a big deal because we have zero family in the area to babysit for us.  A night out without Katy almost never happens when we're home.     

5.  I made cake balls to share with friends and family.  I now understand why pre-made cake balls cost so much.  The chocolate cake balls turned out better than I could have hoped for - rich chocolate flavor with a hint of mint, but not overly moist or sweet.    

6.  I made custom boxes for my cake balls.  When it takes three days to make something, you do not haphazardly throw it in an ill-fitting box.  Besides, a couple hours making boxes doesn't seem like much when you just spent three days making the box contents.  Katy added the final touch by writing names on the name tags.  Seriously, we killed it with the cake balls. 

7.  We enjoyed looking at Christmas lights from our bikes, first as we rode through a local town's massive Christmas light display and later as we rode through our lovely neighborhood.  Chris wrapped battery powered lights on the bikes and Katy's trailer.  I played Christmas music through our wireless speaker sitting in my bike basket.  It was pretty much the most perfect way to look to Christmas lights. 

8. Santa came to our house on December 23, something we could pull off because Katy has absolutely no sense of time, even when an advent calendar is involved.  Santa brought Katy a dollhouse.  She was excited to see the doll house came with a miniature Cozy Coupe to match her own. 

9.  For the second year in a row, we ate chicken fajitas for Christmas Dinner.  It wasn't intentional, but I suspect this is how some family traditions start.

8.  We drove to my parent's house on Christmas Eve.  I resorted to bubbles in the car to keep Katy happy during the 8-hour drive.  We arrived just in time for everyone to take a nap.  

9.  On Christmas Eve, I suddenly became anxious about leaving Katy for several days while Chris and I went on an anniversary trip.  I let Katy sleep with us in a double bed.  It should have been a night where no one slept well, but somehow the three of us slept soundly all squished in that bed together.  It was perfect.

10.  We spent the latter part of Christmas Day with Chris' family.  And just like that, Christmas was over.