{ december }

This month has completely flown by.
I'm sure that the fact that all three of us have been sick at one point or another has not helped.
We are looking forward to spending Christmas with family next week, but right now we are just trying to get healthy!

Here's how we've spent our December 2010:
Hannah has been counting down the days with her Christmas Calendar.
Each night, we hide a small present somewhere in the house and put a clue in the calendar pocket.
Hannah has been having a blast performing a mini-scavenger hunt each night. Some nights, Brian has been ultra creative and has hidden a series of notes instead of just one. Occasionally Hannah has gotten frustrated, but it is so neat to see her reading the clues and getting excited about finding her prizes. I think the favorite prize so far has been a harmonica.

Hannah visited with Santa early in the month.
There was no hesitation this year - she just marched right up and told him she wanted a princess doll.
Of course, this was news to me, and all of Hannah's Christmas shopping was already completed at the time of this request. We'll see if the old guy can really pull through.

We also enjoyed our first real snowfall of the year, and miraculously Hannah wanted to play in it.
This is quite a departure from her position on snow last year, when she basically refused to allow any part of her body to come into contact with it!

Hannah's 3rd birthday was on December 10th, and she got a train set from us.
She has been enjoying setting up new configurations and making us test them.

Reemaw & Mustache and Aunt Kristi were here on Hannah's birthday, and they gave her some great gifts as well. It was a real blessing to have them here!!
((On a side note, it really is hard to teach a child with a December birthday about Christmas being a time of giving, because this girl has been spoiled all month long!))

Aside from that, we have been enjoying some extra time at home, due to all the illness.
It's no fun to be sick, but it has been nice to be home together more than usual.

And finally, here are some pictures of this year's gingerbread house.
We're certainly not going to win any decorating contests, but it was a fun project.

Stay tuned for pictures from Hannah's "Cowgirl" birthday party!