Advent Wreaths and The Nutcracker

I remember getting all teary during Anna's first Christmas. We were at church and every Sunday a new family would go up front to light a candle on the advent wreath. I told Doug I couldn't wait for that to be our family. I don't know why the whole idea made me so emotional. Well, today we finally got to light candles. Doug and I had been talking to the girls about their "jobs" while we were up front. We could tell they were a little nervous as well by the way they were acting. Once we got up there, I began to read while Doug lit the candles. Anna and Lauren, although they started out shy and quiet, gained some confidence and began to circle the small table with the offering baskets...round and round and round they went. I was trying to read and get them to settle while Doug was trying to light the candles and get them to settle. As Doug said, it was a friendly audience and so everyone just chuckled. These girls....they go non-stop from the time they get up until the time they go to bed.


The girls and I attended "The Nutcracker" for the first time last year with our friends Julie, Stephen, and Olivia. Unfortunately, Doug was deployed at the time. The girls were pretty unfamiliar with the "Nutcracker" story but were enthralled and enjoyed the show all the same. This year, I picked up a book before hand so we could read the story several times. Since Doug is now home...yeah!, we were all able to go. At the performance, the girls had 8 million and two questions but it was a lot of fun to hear them pointing out people on stage. Doug jokingly had been calling Herr Drosselmeir by the name Dr. Doofledorpenshmacker and Lauren wanted to know which one he was. :) Anna kept asking about the Sugar Plum Fairy but by the time the Fairy finally had her big dance, both girls were a little antsy and were busy "hugging" each other...at least that's what they called it. To me it looked a little more like a stranglehold.