I do not like to overdue it at Christmas time. It's easy to get so wrapped up in enjoying all the sights, but I do like to do a little something every day in December. So I decided to make up a schedule of all the activities one week at a time. This was our first week and we actually did all of these.
December 1st
Pictures in front of a tree
We went out to the mall and found some festive trees to take pictures in front of.
While we were there we did a little Christmas shopping for Michael's commissioners and our giving tree kids.
I also picked up a couple gifts for the GRANDS Christmas party at church.
It wasn't anything special...we didn't have the kids dress up it was just something fun that got us out of the house.
The kids even got to try some samples at the Hillshire Farms kiosk. Of course Owen didn't want anything to do with it.
It was a fun little outing.
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December 2nd
Make mason jar lid ornaments
The boys were playing Oregon Trail so Ella and I were the ones that made crafts. She had just learned how to make a paper chain at church so she wanted to do that while I made the mason jar lid ornaments.
She's very serious about her crafting!
When she made these at church they used tape so she liked being able to use staples.
She made a pretty long chain. After that she worked with me to make more mason jar lid ornaments.
We decided to hang the chain and the ornaments in the doorway that leads from the living room to the office.
Not a super good picture of the mason jar lid, but they were fun to make...even if I did burn my finger with hot glue.
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December 3rd
Read Christmas Books
I went to the library and got a stack of Christmas books. I let each kiddo choose one book and I read them to the whole family. I didn't take any pictures though.
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December 4th
Make snowflakes
When I was at the library I printed out blank paper so the kids would have the right paper to make snowflakes with. Yes, I said that right...I printed blank papers. It's the best thing! I just open a Word Document and print blank pages. I figure I get 75 pages a week for free and I'm actually saving them money since I'm not using any ink. I also do this right before vacations so the kids have lot of paper to use in the van.
Owen's friend Karah came over to play so she joined in on the fun.
I told the kids we would only be hanging up snowflakes that they took their time on.
Karah made one snowflake and then wanted to go play.
Focusing on doing a good job.
Jackson accidentally cut an Under Amour emblem!
So pretty!
Good job Zeke Man!
Nice work!
Even I got in on the fun!
Owen made a second snowflake.
And so did Jack. Ella and Zeke made more snowflakes as well I just didn't get pictures of them.
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December 5th
Shop for wrapping paper
Every year I let the kids pick out a new roll of wrapping paper that I will wrap all their gifts in. It's a nice way for them to see their gifts under the tree and it makes it so they don't have to touch them and move them to look at the tags....they just know.
On top of getting wrapping paper I also had the kids go pick out some things they'd like on their Christmas list for their siblings to know about.
Of course Zeke wanted dinosaurs!
Ella picked out a phone or a journal.
Jackson picked out Beyblade stuff and this fun old time arcade game.
Owen picked this weird thing that you pull it's tongue and it says stuff...I don't know. He also wanted a remote control helicopter.
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December 6th
Play Christmas Pictionary
I really wanted to print out some fun cards at the library, but I couldn't find any that I liked so I just made up cards using pretty Christmas cardstock. I also borrowed a white board and markers from church.
We ended up dividing into 2 teams...and we came up with team names. Zeke, Owen and I were the Cookie Eaters.
Daddy, Ella and Jack were the Rudolph team.
This was SO much fun!
I believe that's Jack's drawing of The Grinch.
This is Zeke's drawing of Decorating a Tree.
I can see many more game of Pictionary in our future!
This was a snowball fight!
Zeke's Rudolph!
This was my drawing of Jesus in a manger. I was trying to make it look like his eyes were closed since he was sleeping, but he just looks super angry!
This was Michael's drawing of Putting Lights on the House.
In the end we went through all the cards I made and we tied!
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December 7th
Women's Christmas Dinner
I'm a part of the Women's Ministry Team at our church and this is THE event of the year for the ladies. We have ladies that sign up to decorate tables and the guys sign up to be servers. It's an amazing night!
Some of the servers looking all nice!
Nancy is from our church and she plays the harp so beautifully. She plays while the ladies walk around and check out all the tables. We had 18 tables with 8 ladies at each table. That's 144 ladies! There were a few ladies that ended up not making it, but we still had the most ladies we've had since I've been on the women's ministry team.
The tables were all so beautiful! These are just a few of them!
The table above was the table that ended up winning first place!!!
This was my table that my mom decorated. It was beautiful!
The servers on stand by just waiting to help us when we need it.
Mom and I totally failing at the selfie thing! ;)
While I was enjoying the evening all of a sudden one of the servers came up and handed me a napkin....with Zeke's tooth in it. At first I thought I might cry....this was my last first tooth to be lost and I missed it!!! I ran upstairs so I could see Zeke.
He said he was eating a Rice Krispie Treat and he noticed it was gone and then found it on the floor. Thankfully he didn't eat it!
Cute little tooth!
Dinner was cooked by one of our very own and it was very yummy.
For dessert we ordered from a bakery where one of our church folks works at. This was the lemon cheesecake. It was yummy, but sweet and tart. I couldn't finish the whole thing.
Here's the view from my table.
We had a representative come from Mary's Place so we could hear how they are helping the community. It really is amazing how they are working to help people out of homelessness. We took a special offering and ended up raising over $2000 in cash and in gift cards. My friend Elisabeth Aaby was our speaker and she rocked it. It really was a glorious evening!!!
That was also a really great end to our first week of Christmas fun!
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