25 Days of Christmas - A retrospective

I didn't really stay as on top of the blogging as I thought that I would during December. As I sat down at the computer this morning with a camera full of photos and a delicious JJ Beans coffee (thanks Vancouver crew, I love it) I was disappointed to discover that December 2010 was my most unproductive (in a blog sense at least) month in the almost three years since Lola! began. I'm not going to make some crazy promise that in 2011 things will be different, but I'll at least try to give you more material then I did in December.

We did manage to make it though almost all of our 25 days of Christmas tasks and we had a lot of fun along the way. December was a great month and truly flew by. I tried to capture a lot of the fun, but sometimes we were just so caught up in the moment that I didn't think to grab the camera. But, here are a few times that I did manage to take pictures of.
December 9 - Arts and crafts night. This years project was to make Popsicle stick ornaments for the tree. Lola really liked this project and she takes her colouring and gluing quite serious.

They turned out really nice and I am sure will appear on our Christmas trees for years to come.
December 10 - Edible treats for the birds. This year we made treats for the birds with Cheerios. It was a fun project to string the Cheerios on the twine and it kept Lola and I busy while Daddy has a much deserved sleep in.

As you can tell we had no snow in the middle of December and the temperatures were pretty decent. I made Lola wear her hat to make it seem a bit more wintry.
We also hung a seed and nut bell for the birds. Within minutes of returning into the house a number of squirrels were running around the back yard wearing Cheerios necklaces and a group of squirrels had managed to rip the seed and nut bell from the tree. So, while we didn't manage to feed one single bird; the squirrels in our neighbourhood ate quite well.

December 14 - Go to a Christmas party. Lola's day care threw a family Christmas party; with singing, dancing, dinner, and a visit from the big man himself.
Santa and Mrs. Claus came to Lola's day care and brought every kid a present. She wasn't sure about getting too close to Santa, but was very pleased to open the electric guitar that he brought her.
It was a really nice party and Lola was so proud that Santa came to her school.
December 15 - Christmas cookie decorating night. A task completed by Lola and Dad without any Mom supervision. It is hard to believe, based on the colours running down her chin, that not all the icing and treats were consumed and some were actually used to decorate the cookies.
They did turn out beautiful and were all dripping with treats and icing.

December 16 - Cake pops day. It was a full day of cake pops for Sarah and I. With the newly acquired Cake Pops book, Sarah and I felt better prepared to take on this mammoth task. We boldly decided that we could make three types of cake pops.
The reindeer were up first and they turned out super cute.
It is very precise work that requires patience and a steady hand; and when that doesn't work just add more chocolate.The snowmen and Christmas trees followed in short order and all turned out wonderfully. We are both ridiculously proud of our little cake, candy, chocolate creations.

After that Christmas was upon us and our Christmas adventures need their own posts.

To be continued...