Each Monday, we had an FHE that centered around two chapters from the book "A Christ Centered Christmas," and we'd add a piece or two to our nativity.
In year's past we have had an activity based (in order to avoid the candy) advent calendar where we did a different Christmas activity each day. But it just ended up being stressful. I'd have a crazy day and then they kids would want to do the activity and I"d be stressed and grumpy if we did it at all. So this year I decided to tone it down a bit and change things up.
First, we only did an actual activity on Friday and Saturday nights when Cory was home and no one had to get up for school etc. I put a piece of paper with each activity on it in a small (made for gift cards) box. The kids took turns opening them. We:
Went to watch a movie in the theater (Frozen)
Went to visit Grandma GiGi
Colored Christmas pictures as a family
Went to visit Nanna (the kids stayed for two nights so I could get some last minute Christmas stuff done during the day (I was trying to finish the girl's dollhouse)....wanna make that a tradition, Mom?
Had a Christmas movie marathon night with cousins, pizza, cookies and popcorn
Made gingerbread houses (this was a total flop b/c I have no skills....we are inviting Nanna next year)
For our daily activities, we read a different Christmas joke (just silly things, but the boys have really been into joke lately) each morning at breakfast. The kids LOVED it. Then, each night we read a different Christ-centered Christmas book as a family. 12 days before Christmas, we switched to 12 Christmas stories that were given to us by my brother Devin and his wife Melissa. Each story has an ornament to go with it.
In addition, we did a few other things that wouldn't quite fit into the weekends.
Typically, we have had our kids give away one toy for each that they get for Christmas. But it ended up making Christmas morning a bit crazy. So, this year, we had them each pick three toys to give to charity. They did really well. They started by picking a few "less loved" toys, but then Micah picked one of his very favorite books and said that he wanted to give it to a little boy who wasn't getting any Christmas gifts. Then, Noah followed suit as did Samantha. Hannah was just distraught that we were giving away all our stuff. She didn't quite get it. Then, we took everything to charity and then stopped to donate to the food bank and gave each of the kids a bit of money to give to the salvation army in front of the local Smith's. I'm still looking for some sort of charitable activity that we can do with our young kids. I want to find something meaningful, but something that they can actually participate in and that would be truly memorable to them. I'm open to suggestions!
Each year as a child Cory made candy cane cookies with his Dad. So each year, he does the same with our kids. They had a blast!
Except for this one picture where Micah just couldn't quite get his dough to roll out right. He was pretty frustrated.
Success!!!
Watching them bake:
The best new tradition was attending the neighborhood scone party. As a neighborhood we decided to do this instead of neighbor gifts this year. We all donated the money we would have spent on neighbor gifts to charity and got together for a fun night together instead.
Samantha made some fun treats at preschool she was very proud of:
I sold Samantha's dollhouse b/c I knew she was getting another for Christmas. But I didn't think through it logistically until a few hours before a 13 year old girl came to buy it for her 4 year old sister two weeks before Christmas. I told Samantha that there was another little girl who really wanted it for Christmas. I asked if she was okay giving it to her. At first she yelled "No, Mommy no!" again and again in tears. She loved that dollhouse. She would play with it for hours and hours. It was her vary favorite toy.
Each kid filled out fun forms for all their grandparents. I'm hoping to do this each year. I think it would be a fun traditional gift to give them each year and go back and compare what they write as they grow.
We were SO excited to take the kids to see the light at Temple Square this year. We decided to combine it with a "Polar Express" activity. We turned the clocks ahead an hour, had an early dinner and asked them to get in bed. They each found new PJs and a ticket for the "Minivan Express."
We all piled in the van where there was popcorn, hot chocolate and nougat candies, and we listened to fun Christmas music on our way to temple square.
About half way there we switched to a couple more spiritual songs like Away in a Manger and the First Noel. Then we turned the music off and talked about Jesus and how he is the Light of the World. We told them we were going to see His temple and His lights. We talked about how all Christmas lights should remind us of Christ. Everything was quiet for a bit and then we heard Micah, in his best dramatic singing voice (he was really getting into it) "The-uh, First-urst No-oh-ell" and then under his breath "I'm going to be on the radio some day." It was so awesome.
Unfortunately, we picked an awful night to go. It took us 45 minutes to get to the freeway exit (normal) but then and hour and a half to get to the parking lot. And then we took a wrong turn. It would have taken us another hour and a half to go around the block again. We didn't realize it was the Tabernacle Choir concert that night. In addition there was a BYU basketball game and a Jazz game. so we just went home.
All four kids bawled (hard) for about 15-20 minutes. I wanted to myself I was so sad. We ended up just watching the Polar Express at home that night. We are going to try to get to temple square again tomorrow. But we are all 5 feeling a bit sick, so we will see.
The kid's made fun personalized clocks for their teachers at school. I wish we had taken a picture. )-:
Cory got some crazy chocolates from work. I've never seen anything like them.
The boys did lots and lot of this in the week's before Christmas. But it didn't snow Christmas even or Christmas day.
And we went to the ward Christmas party. Cory got some cute pictures of the kids. I will upload them when I get his phone. Samantha made sure to tell him she wanted a new dollhouse.
So that is everything that happened before Christmas week. I will try to get to Joseph Smith's b-day, Christmas Eve and Christmas next week!
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