Milk and Cookies

Today was a very busy day that had us off and running from the time we got up until the time we went to bed.  One of my friends had posted that she had taken her daughters to do milk and cookies with Santa.  It looked so magical to have the kids all around Santa as he read them a story and spent time with them giving hugs and then sharing some milk and cookies!  I tried for two years consistently to get into this program before we were finally able to get in this year!  So for next year I will need to call beginning of November to be able to get into it again.  With that being said we will start our day from end to beginning because it just kind of makes sense as to that's where I should start. 

Milk And Cookies was supposed to start at one o clock with Santa which was fine until I found out that we also had our town's Winter Wonderland celebration that day as well. So we headed over to the celebration at ten thirty and spent an hour doing crafts.  We made candy cane mice, ribbon Christmas trees, decorated gingerbread men and made Popsicle stick tree ornaments.  The girls enjoyed their christmas oranges and trees as went speeding off to get to the next town over so we could spend some time with Santa.

We were a bit late to arrive but it was such a magical thing despite Adaya being afraid of Santa and refusing to sit on His lap.  When we got there Santa read a book about some bears who had Santa come to visit them.  Then Santa called the children up to him one by one where he let them sit on his lap and then he gave them a gift.  Inside the gift bag they were given was a Christmas orange, a small stuffed or wooden toy and a hand painted Christmas ornament.  The children then could go have some milk and cookies and take photos with Santa so we did just that.  It was so neat to see Jessa sneak in some extra Santa hugs and to see Annalina be so impressed with the beard that Santa had.  It was such a neat time to spend with the girls and bring some magic into the Christmas season right at the beginning. 

With this Christmas we truly tried to focus on being grateful and showing gratitude so Jessa made up a card for Santa and gave him some fudge that she made with me.  It was a really exciting time actually because I got to become Santa's helper the next weekend and go help Santa.  It really truly brought a sense of the Christmas season for me as I was able to join in singing Christmas Carols at the beginning of the season with a music teacher who comes to help bring in some Christmas tunes.  She became an answer to my prayers from Heavenly Father... but I'll write more about that later!