Christmas-y activities

It’s fun that Hannah is old enough to really get into the Advent season this year.

It will not surprise you to find out that I keep it pretty simple. I got this one-time-use Advent chart a while back at an after-Christmas sale and this seemed like the year to bust it out! You tear off the number and read a single sentence about the Christmas story. Hannah asks every morning what day of the month it is (hooray for this helping her learn about the calendar!) and if we can go ahead and get started. I love her enthusiasm.

 

I also bought this small tree to hang some special Advent-y ornaments on. Someone gave us a booklet last year with 12 ornaments- again, each with one sentence on the back. Each day, we’ve opened up the book and found the appropriate ornament, read the snippet of the story, and then put it on the tree. I put the tree in the dining room since it was lacking in the festive department! It’s not the best picture, but it looks so nice at nighttime shining in that room, especially through the window.

 

We’ve got a great little Nativity set that my mom bought a few years ago at Lifeway that the girls can play with. It hangs out in the spare bedroom (where Hannah has her ‘quiet time’ now that the girls share a bedroom) and she plays with it most days. No picture because the pieces are all over creation – but that’s the way we like it! It means they are being played with :)

 

I have accumulated a decent collection of holiday-themed movies. We are not big movie people most of the time, but I do think it’s fun to have a little Christmas collection (as well as a few for Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.). Our reindeer often helps Hannah select which one she wants to watch. It’s been extra nice to have these this week since Hannah has been sick. She gets to watch ‘special’ Christmas movies instead of the same ol’ stuff.

 

I know you are jealous that we have both DVDs and VHS tapes. I <3 my old (but oh so very functional) VCR!

 

And, of course, we’ve done some Christmas preschool packs as well. We did the small nativity one first. Next on the agenda (maybe next week?) is the Christmas Tree themed one. It’s massive.

 

I do have one more plan that I’m kind of excited about. Last year I read somewhere online to wrap up Christmas books and then have your kids open one each day. YES. I can handle that. I asked for Christmas/winter books as gifts last year and added them to what we already had. We start unwrapping tomorrow! I’m looking forward to the girls’ reaction.

 

Decorating a tree with stickers (including 3 presents under the tree just like she’s three years old). This is the “Aunt Kimmy” face.

 

Last but not least, we’ve had several evenings of hot cider and/or John’s ridiculously delicious homemade hot chocolate. Here is one of the few pictures I have of myself that I actually like. Apparently I need to wear a Santa hat more often. Or, maybe I just need to smile up at my sweet husband holding the camera more often :).