Greetings from December! How did that happen? Weren’t we just wrestling wiggly kids into bathing suits and sunscreen, like, 10 minutes ago? Now it’s less than two weeks until Christmas and things are all kinds of holly jolly (and cold) over here. Below are a few snaps from my phone and some things we have been up to lately:

At the beginning of the month, Joe and I had a night out to ourselves and we went to San Pedro Cafe in downtown Hudson. We stuffed ourselves with tacos, rolled out of the restaurant, strolled the beautifully lit streets and even saw live mannequins in many of the store windows (which initially startled Joe). I even dragged him into a couple of cutesy shops before calling it a night. It’s hard to pull off a date night in December since things always get so busy, but I’ll definitely chalk that evening up to a success.

We’ve also had two weekends of picturesque snowfall. (View from our bedroom window. Is this real life???)

The girls made a snowman with Joe (This is the snowman whom later had it’s face eaten by a bird, but he was cute while he still had a face.)

I dragged the girls around in a sled for a little while because I guess I need exercise? Cece also went sledding with a few kids in the neighborhood and had a blast doing so. That was much less work for me.

 Cece’s enthusiasm did not apply to shoveling. But she did help me shovel the driveway and got paid a dollar for doing so. Win, win!

 We also had the pleasure of hosting some visitors from Iowa one snowy Sunday afternoon. Cece showed off her reading skills and my former neighbors and I caught up for the first time since we both moved out of Minnesota this summer. Thanks again, Azure and Satish, for stopping by!

We also made it down to the Riverfront in early December in an attempt to see Santa. The line was over an hour long and Rosie didn’t last, so we didn’t actually end up seeing him. But, we did take a horse-drawn wagon ride, made some crafts, and got some hot chocolate.  And we did eventually see Santa this month. Will add pictures from that later!

As luck would have it though, Santa came right up to my table as I was having dinner with a girlfriend earlier this week. I put in a good word for my whole family, so hoping that Cece gets some Pom Pom Wow, Joe gets a new car, etc.

Lastly, I feel like I’ve been sleigh-ing my holiday to-do list this month. (Aside from shopping, I still have some shopping left…) But I did get our holiday cards out already and we’ve been all over making and distributing Christmas treats which feels great.

Instead of printing address labels this year, I made my best attempt at calligraphy and sent all of my cards out this way. It took forever, but I love how they turned out.

We baked gingerbread and sugar cookies on some of those really snowy days. Cece proved to be an expert decorator. Rosie proved to be an expert frosting-eater.

I also made puppy chow and that was a mistake as it turned out to be extremely addictive and we all ended up with powdered sugar-dusted faces, fingers, and beards. It did make for a heck of a movie night treat.

I’d like to end this post with my favorite photo of the month thus far. One morning I glanced over to the fireplace and saw Rosie doing this. She looked up at me matter-of-factly and stated, “I’m just warming my butt.” I think if there’s anyone who has got winter figured out, it’s this girl.

I hope your holiday has been full of fun and minimal stress. And most importantly, I hope your bum has stayed warm and toasty.