Advent Calendar (part 1)

This year we decided to make our advent calendar be a countdown of Christmas activities we could do together. Some for our own fun and some to benefit others. So far we have had a lot of fun with it!

Dec. 1- put on pajamas and go look for Christmas lights. 

Dec. 2- have a special Christmas breakfast. (Yogurt with Christmas sprinkles)

Dec. 3- help Daddy hang the outside Christmas lights. 

(Picture- imagine: Sean on the roof trying to hang lights, in the dark, while also trying to entertain/listen to/referee the oldest 2 playing in the driveway while I wrestled with/held Sullivan and tried to make dinner. Umm yeah. We have 5 strands of lights. Some of them blink, some of them don't. They're hung and that's as good as it gets this year!) 

Dec. 4- have a polar express party.

Dec. 5- shop for Angel Tree gifts.

(No photo- I mean honestly, who would even attempt to take a picture of 3 kids wandering wrecklessly through the toy aisles of Wal-Mart?!) 

Dec.6- Decorate Rice Krispie Christmas trees.

Dec. 7- Go see the gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn. 

Dec. 8- Go to Nonni's to see her Christmas decorations and hear the Cjristmas story. (This may or may not have ended in the actual reading of said story)

Dec. 9- Bake cookies and write Christmas cards to share with neighbors.

Dec. 10- Go on a Christmas scavenger hunt. (Reward for finding all of the items being a Christmas doughnut)

Dec. 11- Make red and green play dough. 

Dec. 12- Go to the Fletcher Christmas parade.

Dec. 13- Go to the $1 store to shop for gifts for each other. (This one has been my favorite! Seeing them shop for each other and then wrap their own gifts was hilarious/adorable!)

Dec. 14- Decorate a Christmas tree craft. (Lesson learned on this one. Glitter is awful! They loved it, right up until Sullivan got glitter ALL over everyone/everything anywhere near the table!)

Tree decorating

I've always loved the "decorated" part of Christmas much more than the "decorating" part of Christmas, but decorating with kids gives it a new meaning. (Read: there is surely lots of "is it time now?", several broken ornaments, an overly watered tree, large clusters of ornaments in the same areas, etc.) But still, the process is more what they look forward to. We have somehow added a new tree each year and this year we've ended up with 4. The big kids got to help decorate them and were so proud! The outside lights haven't made it up yet, but we are ok with that, for now ;)

And we celebrated our decoration completion by watching "The Grinch" with chocolate milk, popcorn and candy canes. (Side note: that completely counts  as a balanced dinner, right?! No?! Well, then I'll take the "cool mom" award for the night!)

And the felt tree...

Christmas Tree Farm

I'm sure I say this every year, but this year really was my favorite trip to the Christmas tree farm. They weren't open to the public, but we sweet enough to open for us, and a few other families, to be able to keep up our tradition. So we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We got to run around in the trees and Porter got to help tie up the trees. He was elated. We all found the perfect trees and made some sweet new memories. Then we headed to the Daniel Boone Inn for a late lunch. Delicious food (and way too much of it!) and great company! 

And you know it's a successful trip when...