Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve! Thanks for hanging out with me again on a Thursday, I hope you enjoy tonight’s five topics. Let’s go quickly so you can get back to watching your Christmas movie and eating your sugar cookies…

Sloan’s Christmas Program – It was adorable watching Sloan “perform” at her daycare’s Christmas program this past Friday. Oxford Children’s Academy did such an awesome job getting all age levels prepared to go on stage. The program was structured in a way that the 4-year-olds performed first, followed by the 3-year-olds, followed by the 2-year-olds, etc. Sidney told me that she already had tears in her eyes during the 4-year-old performance! You can imagine the state she was in once Sloan got up there. Sloan’s classroom dressed in their pajamas and she made sure to match with her best friend, Jacqueline. The night before the performance, Susannah, Jacqueline’s mom, went out and bought the same pair of Santa PJs that Sloan has. It was so cute seeing those two girls “twinning” together.

Sloan and Jacqueline dressed for the OCA Christmas program in matching Santa Claus pajamas.

Baby Shark – Sloan used her daycare performance to warm up for another singing engagement later that night. Our family went to a holiday karaoke party for people within my department at work. We had a great time, even if I did embarrass myself singing Justin Bieber. But the highlight was when Sloan performed “Baby Shark” with the other kids at the party (the “other kids” happened to be the son of Lindsi and the daughter of Brentley – people who were mentioned in last week’s post about the CCU holiday video). Any parent of a toddler has this song engrained in their head so it was actually a nice change to hear a “re-mix’ of it.

These little people brought life to the karaoke party by performing “Baby Shark.”

Fire Truck Santa – Growing up, I think one of the more magical moments from the Christmas season was when Santa would ride through the neighborhood late at night. It was always a special scene to see a procession of fire trucks with lights flashing leading Santa Claus through the streets. Last night, we were putting Sloan to sleep when I noticed red flashing lights poking through our front window. The sound of the siren confirmed what I thought it was. I grabbed Sloan and dashed outside in enough time to see the parade. Santa of course brought up the caboose as he enthusiastically waved at Sloan and threw her a candy cane.

Creative (and Delicious) Christmas Gift – Earlier this week, my co-worker gave me a unique Christmas gift. Scott presented me with a glass jar full of cookie ingredients. Attached to the jar was a tag that had baking instructions on it, displayed in the handwriting of his young daughter. I am kicking myself for not taking a photo of the jar because it was presented in such an aesthetically pleasing way that I wanted to take off the lid and chug the sugar/brown sugar/M&M mix. I did, however, get a photo of the final product. Sidney made the cookies that night and let me tell you, they were absolutely incredible. Big time props to the Dean family for coming up with something so fun.

These cookies were so delicious!

Top Five Christmas Carols – Earlier this month, I revealed my top 5 favorite Christmas movies. However, three years ago I listed my top 5 favorite Christmas carols. On this date in 2015, I made it known that although I enjoy classic carols the most, I can still have a good time with the wacky songs as well. Follow the link to find out what my all-time favorite carol is.

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Can you tell I have the holiday spirit? These next 11 days are special so make sure to savor them – it really is the best time of the year. Don’t Blink.