Gnome for the Holidays

Gonna fly through today’s post today, with tons of pictures and lots of fun and activities. Baby Addie Pie looked like a little gnome girly in her red hoodie today. So stinking cute!

And Emmie may have had some bedhead, but she was still cute 😉

I got a few more gifts from office buddies today, including this beautiful snow globe glass, handmade by my friend Shanka. It’s so cool!

Then we also did our annual white elephant gift exchange with lots of food and treats. This was probably the most fun time we’ve ever had doing this, with lots of folks and quite a few new people in the office. With lots of good gifts, and lots of steals and exchanges. (Please make sure to notice the tablet with the fireplace, which was also playing Christmas music.) Oh, and here’s a few posts from a few other previous years’ parties – 2019 and 2021.

We kinda made gnomes our theme around the office this year, and we really just ran with it. Including these little gnomes stuck in our gifts today, that we then stuck in our hair and wore all day.

Super cute pics of Addison from school today.

Jeff went and picked up the girls again today, and they were both excited to see him.

I went straight home from the office, and put together Nana’s recipe for cheesy chicken & rice casserole, and waited for Jeff and the girls to get home.

Then Emerson put on a little Christmas ballet performance for me.

As many times as I’ve made this over many, many years, I feel like tonight it came out practically perfect, probably the best ever.

Out of nowhere, Addie reached out to hug Emmie, and just kept reaching for her over and over. And they kept hugging for like five minutes, and then Addie was rubbing Emmie on the back, and then they were giving kisses. And I was legitimately crying because it was so cute. It was just one of those moments when I realized how incredibly blessed I am. So very sweet.

The girls had a bath together, and then shared a piece of the pumpkin bread we made last night, since I was able to bring home the last few pieces left after the party.

Bedtime went really smooth, and we were able to get them down quickly and easily. Today was a good day, but I’m ready for some rest time now!