A Christmas Eve Production

We hosted Christmas this year! Our first year of ever hosting, and we LOVED it!!! It was so nice not to have to travel, pack suitcases, pack presents, etc. My parents and sister, Stacey, stayed with us during the Christmas holiday and we had so much fun with them.

On Christmas Eve, it is a tradition to act out the nativity in costumes that my Mom made and everything. So we invited the missionaries over for dinner (where we made Aunt Mary's famous meatballs of course and Grandma Carol Drake's German chocolate cake for my Dad's birthday) and our nativity production and the missionaries made it so fun with their impromptu lines and jokes.

Above: Here's the Voge and Drake crew. My Dad always narrates the nativity.

Above: Here's the actors: Elder Skabelund, me, Cam, Sydnee, Stacey, Elder Miller, and Hallie.

Hallie took on the role of being Mary very seriously and was the only one who brought reverence to the whole thing. She was so cute!

Sydnee just wanted to be held and didn't like the angel halo on her head. And Cam and I played the wisemen while the missionaries played Ceasar Augustus, Joseph, and the shepherds... with swords!?

Above: Elder Miller and Elder Skabelund.

Frosty the Snowman

This past weekend we got dumped on... snow-wise. It was so fun to go to bed seeing the grass and a clear sky and waking up to tons of snow! Cameron and I fought over who got to shovel the driveway first (being our first house and all... we thought it was fun, but I can see how the "fun" of shoveling your own driveway will wear out fast) and since Cam won, Hallie and I built a snowman. I put dyed water in a water bottle for her to dye the snow and she thought that was so fun! So she gave Frosty a blue shirt to wear with a carrot nose and woodchip eyes. Hopefully the snow will stick around for Christmas!

Goodbye to Morning Baths... For Now!

This is something I don't have to do to Hallie on a daily basis anymore: give her baths! Because she is completley potty trained at night... FINALLY!!! No more pullups at night. Woo hoo! Potty training for Hallie during the day was easy, but at night, it was a completely different story. She was such a sound sleeper we could never wake her up to go to the bathroom at night. Then last week, I was officially tired of bathing her everyday after sitting in a pullup all night long so I told her I was throwing the pullups out and she said, "Okay!" I was shocked and didn't think she'd do it, but she did it! Two weeks later, she is still dry at night and has never had one accident. We're so proud of her! It's nice to go two days now without seeing the bathtub :)

The Christmas Tree Farm

For Hallie's fieldtrip this month for preschool, we went to a Christmas tree farm. It was soooo cold, but Hallie and Sydnee were troopers, and stuck it out with me! The kids collected some branches and pine cones as walked around the farm, and then we got to see how they shake a tree then tie it up for customers.

Elf Day (a.k.a. St. Nick Day)

Both Cameron and I have German blood in us, so in December we celebrate a German tradition called Elf Day (or as my family called it, St. Nick Day) which is when Santa's elves or St. Nick (however you want to celebrate it) come to your house the night of December 5th and fill your stockings (or shoes, if you are a Voge... can you tell Cameron and I are still trying to compromise with how we're carrying on this tradition!?). Anyway, so we had Hallie and Sydnee lay their shoes out on Dec. 5th for Santa's elves...

In the morning, Hallie was so excited to see what the elves brought her; Sydnee didn't really understand but thought it was cool that there were treats in her shoes that day. She had no idea that they were meant to be eaten but why spoil her innocence!?


This year, an elf was "left behind" to watch our kids throughout the month of December and report back to Santa of whether the kids have been good or bad. We told Hallie that the elf comes to life and moves every night while she's sleeping to a different spot in the house so he can watch her there. I should have known that Hallie would be skeptical about this elf... just look at her looking at him.


Well, since it is NOT normal for a three year old to be so skeptical of Christmas magic and Santa Clause, we were shocked when Hallie thanked Daddy for the candy and presents in her shoes. Even after Cam tried convincing her that the elves filled her shoes not him, but she just looked at him like he was silly for believing that!? Then, the first night that the elf moved, all the questions starting coming out. And just to say ahead of time, NO we did not tell her the truth, but here's how one of the many conversations played out the first morning we had to find the elf...

Hallie: Mommy, how does Santa get down the chimney? It's dangerous to go down chimneys! Why doesn't he just go through the door? Because we don't let strangers in our house?
Me: Santa comes down the chimney by using Christmas magic and it's closer to the Christmas tree than the door. And Santa's not a stranger.

Hallie: How does Santa get on our roof?
Me: By his reindeer, they fly!
Hallie: Reindeer don't fly, Mom! They don't at the zoo, so they don't fly!
Me: uh......... yes they do! It's Christmas magic! Let's go find the elf, and see where he's hiding today!
Hallie: Okay! You moved him last night Mom?
Me: NO! He moves by himself when you're sleeping.
Hallie: No he doesn't, he's just a doll. Doll's aren't real.
Me: Yes they are... like Toy Story! They're real in Toy Story!
Hallie: That's just a cartoon, silly.

Okay, I was stumped. Of course, I'm lying through my teeth to keep the magic of Christmas alive, but yet, she's a smart little fart. So I just ignore her questions and hope that next year she will just start believing!?