I have never done so many festive things leading up to Christmas in my life. Our holiday festiveness started the day after Thanksgiving, and has been full on ever since. For the first time, we put up a tree this year. We read books; we listen to Christmas music. We made gingerbread houses, we did Christmas crafts, visited Santa, visited THE Christmas store, we played in the snow, we made paper snowmen cards.
One activity that was missing was making COOKIES! So finally yesterday we made Christmas cookies. Raffa and I made two kinds of cookies -
these AMAZING simple Christmas cookies that have a delicious spice to them. We also made these
chocolate peppermint cookies. We also made a huge mess, but it was totally worth it.
Earlier yesterday morning, before cookies, we had gone to one of our favorite breakfast spots:
Stowaway Coffee + Kitchen. Their elixir of life, I mean coffee, is so good and their food is wholesome, healthy, and delicious.
Raffa always builds with legos and we share
the yogurt with granola and porridge. Both have their own unique twists that make them extra special and delicious.
Today we met some great friends at Union Station. We had coffee and breakfast at
Merchantile and then spent some time just hanging out in the main terminal. Union Station is extra magical with their Christmas decorations.
Oh, and we finished up with ice cream before lunch.
We had such a fun morning and the weather was gorgeous as we left around noon. Raffa and I spent the afternoon decorating cookies with my mom, Jonna, and Asher; and then hand-delivered some of the cookies to friends.
We can honestly say, heading in to Christmas Eve tomorrow, we did it all. It has been such a fun time leading up to Christmas this year and I am sure the next two days won't disappoint either. The traditions, big and small, that we are starting and continuing have really taken on a whole new importance now that Raffa really, really, really gets it. The quality time and memories!!!
