Don we now our gay apparel...

This was last Friday. There was a little Christmas party at Clover's pre-school. I wore the red corduroy jumper that arrived in Anne's package along with the cozy cowl she made and Clover looked adorable in her festive layers.

Her outfit also included several gifts from packages of yore, the felt flower hair clip (another of Anne's crafty creations), the little girl on a swing necklace from Milla, and her green "Gretel" skirt from Nicole.

All the kiddos were given jingly bells to carry as we went off caroling up and down the street. We went to about 5 or 6 houses, mostly elderly neighbors, whose faces lit up and broke into smiles at the sight of the wee carolers :)

The final house belonged to the most adorable older husband and wife who invited us all into their living room to gather 'round the piano and sing along as she played Christmas tunes!

You'll never guess who we found up on the housetop as we made our way back!

Indeed, Santa himself paid an early visit to The Farm, much to the little ones' delight, with gifts of homemade playdough and tiny stuffed bear ornaments too boot.

The brand new baby sister of one of Clover's classmates had her first encounter with Santa and peacefully slept right through it.

Dixie cups full of warm cocoa and whipped cream, red and green playdough everywhere, these kid's know how to party.

Paper stockings were hung by the overflowing bookshelf with care, each kid's account of what Santa would bring them for Christmas this year. Apparently, Clover is getting a unicorn and some bandaids. Fanciful, yet practical, that's my girl ;)

Clover's teachers rigged this up on the fly (harhar) early on in the week and the kids played Santa's sleigh for days! Her teachers are so awesome like that, they come up with the best stuff. We are so thankful that Clover gets to experience the magic that they create here at The Farm. It's a pretty special place.

Now for something else pretty special...

Look who I got to hang out with! A couple of weeks ago I met up with my birthday twin, Amber, fellow blogstress and the brilliance behind the beautiful vintage Etsy shop Violet Folklore, for a couple of hours of girl time in the town of Napa. We did a little thrifting and chatted over beers.

It was fun to spend some one on one time with her, a chance to get to know her a little better, with no wee ones to distract us. Of course, not only do we share a birthday, we also each have a little girl, both of whom appear to have inherited their mama's love of clothing and style in spades!

Amber, super cute outfit and all, struck a pose in the bathroom (something she's been know to do before ;) with her brand new camera, complete with gorgeous leather case. Thank goodness for this camera, because after a long absence, she has recently been blogging up a storm! You can even read what she had to say about our little meet-up here.

I had such a lovely time with Amber, and I'm so glad she'll be giving us glimpses into her world again :)

As for my own bloggy absence of late, as usual it seems, the more there is to document, the worse I get about documenting it! It's frustrating, and one of blogging's great conundrums. For me anyway. I'm just not speedy when it comes to blogging. It takes time to compose posts as well as trying to maintain a commenting presence on all of the blogs that I love, there are too many of you!

When I start to get overwhelmed I tend to shut down. So whenever I disappear, that is usually what the deal is. Not to worry, I always come back. I can never stand to be away from my bloggy sisters for too long ;)

Lately, with holiday happenings and Clover now on Winter break from pre-school, time is even more limited than usual. Therefore, I may continue to be a less than efficient blogger/commenter in the days ahead. Just know that you are in my thoughts dear friends and I wish you all wonderful holidays full of laughter and magical moments!