I can't believe I let the entire month of December (okay, okay... and most of November...) slip by without posting anything, so here's a quick peek at some of the fun before I backtrack a bit.
We started the month out right with our annual Christmas Tree Family Home Evening. We decorated all evening and then stretched out under the lights to open our first Christmas book ("The Tale of Three Trees") and read it together.
We spent a Friday afternoon at The Festival of Trees with Grandma Carol, Aunt April and the boys seeing the trees and doing the kid crafts. This year I checked Olivia out of school a little early so she could join us, and the funny girl was so torn about missing anything important or fun that she cried when I picked her up!
Even though Livvy is still a Santa enthusiast as far as letter writing and cookie leaving goes, she decided this year that she was just way too big to sit on his lap, so it was just the boys.
A typical evening during the month of December: dinner and homework done, pajamas, Christmas tree lights and a movie from our collection. This was the night we watched "Polar Express" and they were both enthralled. We had a bit of Christmas magic as well when the movie was done and Olivia looked out the window and screamed "IT'S SNOWING!" (It was just a flurry and only lasted ten minutes, but we'll take what we can get!)
Then we followed the movie up with our new tradition of opening up one of our wrapped Christmas books and reading it together before bed. They both LOVED being able to open a present every night and even though it was a book that we already owned, they hadn't seen it in a year so it was pretty much like new. It was a great way to bring a little Christmas magic each evening and all it cost was a roll of wrapping paper out of the Target dollar aisle!
My little Christmas elf! A week or so into the month Caleb went to a preschool activity at a friend's house, who happened to have a train set up around their tree. So of COURSE he had to come right home and put a train around our tree. (The effect was lessened by the fact that the only trains in our house are from Ikea and Target and were absolutely dwarfed by the gigantic-ness of our tree.)
The week before Christmas we went with Grandma Carol, April and the boys to "A Candlelight Christmas" at This is The Place Heritage Park. I'd never even heard of it before, but it was one of the highlights of my month. The live nativity was so beautiful and touching (especially after a tough and hectic week) and I can't describe the feeling of seeing my children just feet away from the gorgeous nativity scene, reverent and taking it all in. We saw the reindeer, rode the train, had hot chocolate at the hotel and then roamed through the village doing all of the activities and seeing the displays.
Making Christmas houses at Grandma Vickie's! We love this tradition of my mom's and look forward to it every year! We had a yummy dinner, made our houses and had so much fun playing with the rest of the family!
I love this time of year so very much and all of the time we get to spend with our family and friends. I loved all of the especially meaningful family home evening lessons and activities, performing with The Sterling Singers in our Christmas concert at Libby Gardner, and making and delivering gifts with the kids!
