This year our family made an advent calendar. I was inspired by my friend Gretchen's calendar last year. She had made one with an advent activity for each day.
Ashlynn and I made windows and doors, I attached them to a piece of poster board that was in the shape of a house, and then I cut the windows and doors open. I think that although it is not beautiful (especially in photos... that looks like an awful green), it has charm.
On the first day, our activity was to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas".
Our kids are MAJORLY sensitive about movies and any kind of drama freaks them out. But, old Charlie Brown is a safe bet (well, except for all the times "stupid" is said during the movie).
Day 2 was Sunday and Ashlynn performed with the children's choir at church.
You would think Lydia and Ashlynn called each other to coordinate their outfits. I am thankful for hand-me-downs (isn't the dress from the Lees beautiful?). This one was perfect for the request for black, white and red outfits.
Those two girls are nuts!
Our advent activity for day 2 was making cinnamon ornaments. The recipe was cinnamon, apple sauce and white glue. So simple!
On day 3 Carter asked me to draw Santa. He colored it and then asked me to write his name and Santa's name (which he traced). He took it outside and tucked it under the doormat. I'm not quite sure what he is intending to happen to the "letter", but he makes sure it stays with the doormat (it is still there).
Our advent activity for the day was to eat a fancy Christmas cookie (from Planet Cookie) and to sing "Jingle Bells".
The "Jingle Bells" part was after dinner. It started with singing and the ringing of bells.
Then we listened to other Christmas songs and started dancing. Good times!
On day 4 we bought our Christmas tree and decorated it. The last two years we got our tree through a fundraiser at Ashlynn's school, but this year they didn't have the fundraiser, so we headed back to Home Depot. This year's tree that is supposed to be a 6-7 footer is really tall (over 7') and dense. It was the first and only tree we looked at that day.
Ashlynn took the camera while we paid for the tree.
After dinner, we decorated the tree.
The kids organized the ornaments while Eric took care of the lights.
Time for decorating! Ashlynn's baby ornament is always one of the first to be hung on the tree.
It is sure a lot of work to buy and fully decorate a Christmas tree in one evening, but for the little ones, it was worth it.
On Wednesday, we drove back into the very dark Canyon Park for "Stories with Santa", presented by the library.
The children's librarian read a few books before Santa arrived. One talked about how Christmas isn't about presents but about joy and love, and Carter called out, "and Jesus!" It was pretty cute. Later in the evening the librarian said to me how much she enjoyed hearing Carter say that.
Santa read a book about how he decided on using reindeer to pull his sleigh and then the kids had a chance to sit on Santa's lap, talk with him and take a photo. Our passive children ended up being at the end of the line, but I suppose that meant they didn't have to rush their visit.
There was also a craft to wrap up the event. Fun and gluey!
And, all the kids there went home with a hardcover book!
On Thursday, our activity was to go to the Monrovia Christmas parade. It was super crowded. Last year's parade was postponed by a few days because of the wild windstorm we had, so I guess we forgot how busy it is on a regular year. Luckily we found a spot sitting on the street in front of people with chairs.
Olympic gold medalist Kim Rhode was the Grand Marshal. I almost missed seeing her because I was amused by Carter's delight at identifying the "BMW! Ultimate driving machine!" (spotting them never gets old for him).
We didn't miss Ashlynn's reason for looking forward to the parade: seeing Lydia perform with their school's majorette group. She was so proud of her friend!
There was delight in the eyes of both children when Santa came along.
Phew! That was a fun, but exhausting week!
