This has been the first year I wasn’t worried about Ellie purposely breaking ornaments. So naturally, I breathed many sighs of relief. What I did not anticipate was that she would begin decorating our tree. In the days approaching Christmas, she added coasters, a wash cloth, wet wipes, jewelry, a headband, personal artwork and all the decorations from her own tree to ours. It was spectacular.

For Christmas, Ellie asked for a Doc McStuffins doll, baby bear (stuffed) and a real tiger (so she could pet it). Thankfully, Santa stuck with Doc. I’m not sure where we would have stored that tiger.

Making chocolate covered pretzels is Keegan’s favorite Christmas tradition, so we managed to work that in to the schedule. You know, for him.

Also, you can’t see it here, but that man made nearly the entire bag and had them all lined up in perfect rows. I’m thinking of hiring him out. For her contribution, Ellie mostly ate the chocolate.

This is Ellie with my dad. He is “full of bologna sauce.” Just ask her.

We made sugar cookies on Christmas Eve. It’s fun to recreate one of my favorite memories with Ellie. This year, we used this recipe via Simply Recipes. It is the first one in the post. However, we used my standard milk + powder sugar glaze, because it is easy and delicious.