december 9

december 9: read a christmas story

the girls picked the only christmas story we have with pictures: the giving chest.

it's a cute story with cute illustrations.  i'm not sure how much of the story they gleaned - it's kind of long - but i tried simplifying it here and there. 

 looking at the pictures before we read the story

 

looks like i'll need to add some kids picture and story books to this collection, as well!

december 8

december 8: make a christmas craft

thank you, pinterest!  i got what papers i had, we cut the shapes, and got to work.

the fun part was curling the beard paper strips - although i didn't read any instructions and i'm sure we should have curled the strips before gluing them on...

oh well, it worked out

 it's nice that kate can do her own

 beth got a little help from mom

 proud of her santa

december 7

december 7: write a letter to santa

this was the first year kate could write her own letter.  since beth was already in bed, we decided this would be a letter from both girls.  plus, we asked santa to bring them something to share ;)

translation:

dear santa claus

please bring me a dollhouse

i have been good this year

at the top, she wrote:

heart kate

as you can tell, she spelled it backwards so she wrote her name again below the heart..

presh

december 6

december 6: "teach the children"

 a few years ago, weston's mom gave us this tree, ornaments, and accompanying story called teach the children.  it's a story about santa claus and what he would have us teach our children about christmas, rather than focusing on him and the gifts.  it's a great way to remember the symbolism about all the things we see at christmastime.

 

beth is going to teach us all about the bell and sheep and what they mean

kate's not quite sure...

december 5

december 5: watch a holiday movie

this year the girls chose frosty the snowman

then, just because i was feeling christmas spirit-ey, i let them watch frosty returns

we haven't tuned in as much this year to abcfamily's christmas programming.  maybe i'll schedule a few things for the dvr...

december 4

december 4: take our family picture

while we use this photo for our christmas card, it's been a great way to make sure we at least take a family photo once a year!

here's a cute one of the girls as a teaser

 

i'll post our photo when i post our card... 

december 3

december 3: pick out new ornaments

i love this activity every year.  last year i realized if i could pick out a handful of ornaments and then let the kids pick the one they want, we were all happy.  i don't have to end up with some crazy, ugly, tacky ornament to add to the tree :)  control freak?  possibly.

kate chose these bells

beth chose this green ball ornament

we chose this ice skate for miles

cute additions to the tree this year!

december 2

did you think i was bluffing before?  yeah, sorry about that.

december 2: play a family game

it's probably a sign that we need to buy more games for kids, but kate wanted to play candyland again.  i think this has been our family game for december 2 for the last three years :)

 

it is nice that kate really understands how to play a board game, however.  not quite so hard to get through.  beth, on the other hand, was a different story.

but wouldn't you know it, beth won the game!  kate came in second but was happy with that.  i sort of expected her to at least be disappointed in not winning.

anyone have any good recommendations for starter games for young kids?  we need to add to our collection!

december 1

december 1st: make a paper chain

kate was actually able to help me this year.  i cut all the strips and we assembled two chains (these days it feels like we have to have two of everything or it brings the onset of WWIII)  so i made a chain for beth while kate helped make her own.  here are the girls tearing off their first links:

 kate giving me the look

and now we have beth...

this is the best she would give me at 

a) actually looking at me or the camera and 

b) showing me her torn link

this girl....

christmas advent 2012!!

here we go again!  i was looking at my blog the other night and realized i had only posted 11 (yes, that's ELEVEN) times this entire year!  what is going on with me?  i mean, i'm not a great blogger anymore, but eleven posts?!  geeze louise, we've got to be better about that next year.  i may smell a new year's resolution... something i hardly EVER make because they just get broken.

i digress...

so here we are, the beginning of december with built in posting at my fingertips!  our christmas advent is upon us and we'll see how closely we stick to the actual assignments.  weston will be traveling for a large part of the month so to make things easier, i may be coming up with more crafts or things to do at home rather than venturing out with the three littles all by my lonesome.

i was thinking today that perspectives are so different from child to adult.  as a child, i couldn't wait for december to fly by so that we could get to christmas that much quicker.  i see the same urgency in kate these days.  just today she asked me about ten times when it would be christmas.  when i would tell her (in 24 days) she would dramatically sigh and go on about how that would take "forever"

oh. brother.

i sort of feel the opposite - i love the month of december.  i love the anticipation and celebration of the one day of christmas all month long.  i love the activities and goodies and movies that come with it.  i love the spirit of christmas and the spirit of christ that you can feel all around if you are looking.  with that said, please join us as we do our best to enjoy all this month can offer!