Unholiday December

So, this post just deals with the regular livin' of December.  Not Christmas related, just the day to day.

Charley prepared to dance

Okay, I lied - this is their daily candy Christmas countdown, which they looked forward to as much as the advent!

And the morning ritual of finding Santa Starr, our elf.

 Reed decorating his house boat.

 C checking on her fairies.

 Found him!

 Charley reading a book to Reed.

 Her first book read, cover to cover, all on her own!!  No hitting!

The fairies left her a surprise!

 Reed and his treasure box.

 Paula sent us some yummy fruit!

 Going out to enjoy our only snow of the year!

 Spirit night at Chick-fil-a.  Healthier than McD, but against my philosophy.  What's a girl to do?  I'm finding us spending more and more time there...

 With our friends Tyler and Bella.

 Lunch with Charley.

 Out of sequence - back to that snow day.  We tried to sled, no luck.

 Christmas party at C's school - gingerbread houses.

 AND pajama day!

Advent Season

I started a new tradition this year.  I took a bunch of old wooden spools from my great-grandmother, and turned them into an advent calendar, with an activity for each day of the week.  The kids took turns unwrapping the day's activity each morning.  We had so much fun with it!  A tradition I cannot wait to continue year after year!

Here are the fun things we did for advent...

 

Introducing the advent calendar

 We had our old neighbors the Jardot's over for supper and Charlie Brown Christmas

 We read The Elf on the Shelf, then he made his annual appearance

 We decorated the tree

 We read The Nutcracker then danced to the soundtrack

 We went to Explore and Discover's annual pancake breakfast with Santa

 Charley got to see her old teachers, Ms. Wilma...

 ... Ms. Carol...

 ... her old classmate George...

 ...  and Ms. Leslie!

We drove to the Fayetteville square to look at Christmas lights - ate at Tiny Tim's Pizza first.

 

We made handmade cards/goody bags for residents of the homeless shelter

We popped popcorn and played games around the tree

 

We read Polar Express and had hot chocolate

 We made Christmas cookies

 

We went for a nighttime pajama walk to look at Christmas lights

 We went ice skating, and even though Reed is still too small (That's okay - the cheerful little guy said!), I got to go with C this time!  She is REALLY good!

 He DID get to watch the Zamboni, however

 We delivered our goodies to the homeless shelter, along with our friends Brendan, Emily and Anita

 

 

 And we prepared for Santa the night before!  Charley made a Santa trap...

 ... we put out cookies and milk...

 ... and spread reindeer dust on the lawn!