As always our Christmas season started off with the return of our elf Talon followed by a little decorating.....this reindeer and sleigh were some of the first things brought up from storage and immediately Bryson hopped on. I knew right away this Christmas would be even more joyful to experience through his eyes! He loves singing, dancing and praising Jesus so a season celebrating Him with flashy lights, music and parties was sure to be AWESOME! On our drive Christmas day he started randomly belting out "Happy Birthday to Jesus". It warmed our souls!
Our countdown to Christmas is a favorite family tradition.
Sometimes our activities are exciting and sometimes they are low-key
but I prepped the kids before hand reminding them of that fact and told them outward disappointment or whining about the day's events would not be acceptable.
What's today's countdown?
was always one of the first things the kids asked each morning.
Somedays we scrambled for an idea but we didn't sweat it the few days that
were too hectic or exhausting to do much of anything.
Here's what happened during the first week.
Day 1: New Ornaments
the selection breakdown: Bryson: a sock monkey, Alexis: a frou-frou bulldog that totally grew on me, Braxton: a dart board and Braeden: a pool set
Ornament picking went really well this year. I gave very little input, selection time was quick....in fact, they were biting at my heels wondering if I'd hurry up as I was trying to gather things for future activities AND we didn't break anything!
Day 2: Christmas with my family
To spice up our gathering we played a few Christmas Minute to Win It games.
We started off with a little snowball toss through the Christmas wreath.
Next up a team challenge of Christmas Cliffhanger.
The facial expressions this game produced were fantastic!
And finally: Christmas Nutstacker
Day 3: Find the pickle.
A non-German tradition as originally thought when purchased but fun none-the-less.
(do you see it?)
Brian was busy with work so the hiding was left to me;
I was concerned that it would be discovered quickly but locating it really is a difficult task.
I knew drama might occur if one of the boys found it, so I secretly gave Alexis some hints.
Braxton spotted it first...two years in a row!
His excitement was short lived as he was offended by us saying he had "pickle power!" Of course, Alexis was disappointed too that despite the secret clues she didn't find it. So the exciting hunt was sprinkled with a bit of let down and irritation; thankfully the chocolate trophies were a little solace.
Day 5: Watch the classic Rudolph movie
Day 6: Game night
Initially news of this activity was met with a few "but we already played games a few nights ago" comments. But when they learned it was a NEW "Angry Birds" game they were all IN! Bonus: it was surprisingly a lot more fun than I thought it would be!
Day 6: "Shop for an orphan in Hondorus."
We've been praying and talking about orphans for months so when I shared the day's activity it was met with SCREAMS of DELIGHT and ANTICIPATION! Alexis thought we were going to Hondorus to get an orphan! Love that girl's heart! I hated letting her down.
Day 7: the school age kids enjoyed LOADS of fun at their school's Polar Express fundraiser while Brian, Bryson and I went out to eat and did a little shopping.
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