For Christmas, Dougie and Connie received a Big Piano from Santa. We’re planning to get a real piano in the spring but we thought this would be a fun toy for them until then. They both took to it immediately. Scott taught Dougie how to play Twinkle and he’s been playing on it ever since.
Dougie then tried to teach Twinkle to Connie. She still needs some practice.
In Dallas, we have lots of special ornaments that go on the tree each year. There are several I made in Grade 1 (including a very pathetic looking popcorn and cranberry string). We haven’t let Dougie get too involved in decorating because he has played with the various things and broken several of them. We didn’t bring any of our special ornaments out to Calgary though so we had to get something new. Since the new ornaments have no sentimental value at all – enter Dougie, the decorator.
We started off by letting Dougie have full creative control of where the balls went. But he put them too low.
Too low is defined as anywhere that Connie can reach. So, we asked him to put them higher.
Better, but we weren’t going to get a lot on that way. So, in stepped Dad to help.
That was better, but apparently, Dougie felt his creativity was being stifled. So, he dragged his learning tower over to the tree and took matters into his own hands.
There we go, high enough to be away from Connie but still allowing for that “Dougie Flair.”
We would move the tower occasionally to give him access to another area but it worked out perfectly. Here is Dougie showing off his end result.
The whole tree
Hang on, let’s get a better look at those branches.
Hmm, that’s certainly some ornament density. On the average branch, there were at least 5 balls. We’re not even sure how he managed to fit them all on there.
After Dougie went to bed, we made a few modifications – purely for structural and safety reasons – honest. 
Time for a classic Sharabura family tradition… making Christmas cookies! By this time, Dougie is an old pro at making cookies (heck, he has his own apron!), but this was Connie’s first shot at it. We’re happy to report that the cookies were delicious, nothing burned, and we only had a couple of over-sprinkling incidents (see below). First, we make the dough:
Measuring the lemon extract requires a steady hand:
“How does this thing work anyway?”
Salt — another tricky ingredient:
“Making snow” (also called sifting flour for those not used to baking with Dougie)
“I’m going to eat FIVE cookies!”
“Man, this is hard work…”
“Oh, gee, I’m not sure Daddy… let me taste one more!”
“Umm…. Daddy, I’m not so sure about this stuff…”
“Wait… you mean I can eat this??”
“That’s more like it!”
Then, we put the dough in the fridge for a couple of days (hence the costume changes for those who are paying attention!) Onward to cookie-making!
“I can make just one big cookie, right?”
Making cookies for the Cutie Pie Ranch
“I’ve got seven teeth… I can eat all KINDS of cookies!”
“What, these aren’t toys?”
“We can TOTALLY fit more sprinkles on here….”
If it’s Christmas, we need lots of green, right?
Once the cameras stopped rolling, Dad applied a little bit of sprinkle equalization. The things we do to uphold a family tradition…