Christmas 2011, so far! (pt 2)

Here are a few more pictures.

We were lucky enough to be able to attend "A Walk Through Bethlehem" put on by the Woodmont Christian Church. The line was long and it was crowded once we were inside, but the educational value was immense. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birth, I would encourage you to take your family to this event, just to learn more about life in Bible times.

Below is a picture of Joseph, Mary, and "baby Jesus."

We enjoyed a "Grinch Day" at school in the lower elementary. Here are some of us with our Grinch shirts!

Mark's birthday is December 13. We bought an ice cream cake for him. John didn't exactly tell Mark what we bought for him, but he did say, "Don't look in the freezer, Dad!"

Once school was out, we had more time for other projects. I bought a pre-assembled gingerbread house at Walmart and the kids decorated it. We even used some leftover Halloween candy on it!

The kids love crafts and they love making presents for others. Here they are hard at work on some things for the grandparents.

Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas!

Melissa

Christmas 2011, so far! (pt 1)

It's been over a year since I posted. I'd like to do better, but we'll see what the new year brings. I don't apologize. My life is full and I spend too much time online as it is. That being said, here are some pictures from our family Christmas activities so far this season.

This is our Christmas countdown "clothesline." It hangs across the double windows in the kitchen. The envelopes are numbered and contain a card suggesting an activity for the day. In November, I spent quite a bit of time checking schedules and planning activities. The envelopes are numbered because the activities are pre-scheduled. I also left the envelopes unsealed, so I could change cards around if necessary. We were able to do almost everything listed on our cards.

Here's Molly in her favorite spot beneath the tree. She claimed it even before we had the tree completely put together! Today there are so many presents under there that she is finding it harder to find her spot.

We went to Breakfast with Santa at The Factory in Franklin. It was a really nice set up and the food was really good! Santa commented on John's Grinch shirt :)

One of our Christmas tasks was to try the pretzel/hershey kiss treats. We made them with peppermint kisses. Yum-o!

Jamie the Elf has made his yearly visit and has been into a bit of mischief. Normally he's pretty good, but this day we found him in the pantry sipping the syrup!

John's Christmas program at school was all about bears!

He was a panda bear and his friend, Josh was a polar bear. The program was super cute!

That's it for now. I'll try to remember to post again later :)

Melissa