It's Beginning To Look A lot Like Christmas!

We finally got all of the Christmas decorations up and everything looks so beautiful. This time of the year always gives me warm fuzzies inside and I love the excitement that it brings.

We're going to get another year with Kacey believing in Santa and I'm cherishing every moment. I remember how sad it made me when we finally told Kayleigh but we kept the spirit alive by letting Kayleigh help us shop for her sister but we shopped for her so she still didn't know what she was getting until Christmas morning.

As we unpacked all the Christmas stuff, the memories started flowing. The girls hung the ornaments and listened to me tell stories with each one. They even told me stories that they remembered as they made some of them. Kayleigh had an emotional moment when we pulled out the ornament we'd made with her first boyfriend's name on it. *sigh* He will always hold a special place in our family and she quietly placed his ornament ball back into the box.

I took the girls for pictures. They're growing up way too fast! I couldn't believe just how much until I got the pictures back. Kacey is nearly as tall as Kayleigh now! Only about 5 inches seperate them and only 4 pounds.

While we were in the mall, there was NO line to see Santa and so I convinced the girls to have their picture taken.

Yesterday we decided to end the week with a trip to Christmas Town. It's something new that Busch Gardens was doing this year. My Mom surprised us with tickets and we surprised the girls by taking them. They were SHOCKED! Christmas lights really excite my girls and this just magical! They had lights galore over the park....real live penguins....emotional shows with traditional Christmas carols...and top it off with a Christmas show featuring characters of Sesame Street. Both of my girls were Sesame Street fans when they were little and even though they might not admit it now, they still love it! The smells through the park were amazing! They had fresh baked goods....Starbucks coffee....and apple cinnamon smelly things hidden. It looked and smelled like Christmas. We paused for a moment to look through the window at the very "real" looking Santa. His suit was gorgeous! As Kacey peered through the window, she whispered, "Mom, thats not the real Santa" and she smiled at me. I winked and whispered back, "You never know!" She smiled back at me and my heart melted. We ended the night with a final trip by the ice cream shop. I could hardly resist the peppermint flavored ice cream! Kacey chose the rainbow sherbert and Kayleigh chose the cookie dough. Diabetes wasn't rearing it's ugly face and the Herbie revealed a beautiful 94 on his screen. Thank you diabetes for not stealing our joy!