Christmas Catherine

As is the annual tradition, Christmas Catherine left us on Christmas Eve -- flying back with Santa to keep him company over the upcoming year ... soon to return during the holiday season again.  It was such a special year because Jack was SO excited about finding her each and every morning.  The magic is still alive for the girls, but the pure joy that Jack exuberated was incredible.  He would giggle every time that he saw her and was eager to tell everyone over the course of the day just what his elf had gotten into.  Now, to be fair, CC doesn't always get into trouble and her antics are pretty mild ... just enough to invoke a little hilarity among the "barely 8 and under" crowd.

Her debut, a North Pole Breakfast, early in the month of December:

She decided to decorate a pine tree in the bathroom and got all tangled up in the garland:

A snowman out of toilet paper rolls, complete with a sign asking where all of the snow had gone ...

Stringing a necklace out of Apple Jacks cereal for herself and her snowman friend:

(Side note: I smile whenever I set this snowman out for the kids each year.  It was a gift that Steve's mom had purchased for our kids and then never had a chance to give it to them before she suddenly passed away.  When Steve's dad found it, he gave it to us and then I let the girls unwrap it that year on the day that our first snowflakes fell.  I had them go outside to open it in the swirling white snow and wrote on the box that it was from Grandma.  And I made sure to take pictures.  Barb would have loved that).

Christmas Catherine got into a bunch of candy and snacks and apparently had a bad belly-ache the next morning:

A candy cane hunt:

Sophia loves these play glasses left over from my Halloween costume and often wears them around the house:

Some of the candy canes were easy to find and others were a little trickier:

The kids laughed for DAYS over this one:

One morning, the girls and Jack woke up to find CC stuck in a red balloon that was hanging from the ceiling fan in the family room.  She had the most perfect view from up there of every ... little ... thing ... that they did that day -- good and not so good!

Christmas Catherine set up a kissing booth (with lots of lipstick!) for all of her friends:

Rolling down the stairs in a roll of toilet paper:

CC got caught with a marker adding a few details to Samantha's picture in the hallway:

A tea party (the set is from China, the year that I was pregnant with Sophia and Steve made multiple trips over there for work):

Hang-gliding with some ribbon and a candy cane.  Somehow, she kept moving up and down the ribbon at various times of the day and this was so intriguing for the kids:

Spelling fun with M&Ms:

Christmas Catherine made a beard out of a cotton ball and then drew on the bathroom mirror with a little note:

One of my personal favorites -- FREE candy canes for CLEAN rooms!

The night before she left, Christmas Catherine stuck bows all over the wall in the hallway and then perched in the wreath on the door.  The blue envelope was a letter than Sam had written to her before she left, complete with a rubber band bracelet that she had made for her.

Such a fun tradition for the kids that I hope to continue for quite a few more years ...!