Friday Fun

Today's fun is slightly sad and totally a chore, not a fun activity. Well it wasn't a fun activity, until I opened my big yapper!!!

We have to take the Christmas tree down today. It is a fire hazard, has been for about a week now, but I didn't want to take it down. If the branches weren't so brittle I'd probably leave it up until the end of January (I guess this is an advantage to fake trees...they don't die). Last night, when I mentioned to JB that we were taking the tree down he burst into tears. I remember last year, after we disposed of the fire hazard, one of them kept asking "Christmas over?". Too sweet!

So in the middle of the outburst of tears over the dead tree I heard myself say, "Oh buddy, don't cry, taking the tree down in a fun game". Really??? Did I just say that??? Am I brainless??? Of course this comment did not go by unnoticed by bionic eared Miss M! She squealed with delight at the prospect of a fun game (the squeals of delight will turn into squeals of horror if she doesn't perceive herself as the "winner" of whatever the game is...that's a whole different post though).

So today after nap we are playing the "Christmas Tree" game. I'm going to take down all important, breakable ornaments while they are napping (I'm not completely brainless). Then we are going to have some fun! We'll start in the dining room, I'll give a command like "go find an ornament with a mouse on it" and they will run to the tree, get the ornament and run back to me in the dining room. Then I will lovingly put the ornament back in it's box while the kids run to get "one that looks like a candy cane" and so on...

Dumb? Sort of! Time consuming? Yup! A memory with my kids that will probably have us all giggling and possibly the tree falling over? Absolutely :)

When we're done I'll have hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles all ready!!

Library Day

It's been quite the week here...last Thursday, on the way home from preschool, I got the flu. Today is Tuesday and I feel more like myself than I have in five days...but not quite "better". I seriously think I'll get the flu shot next year, I don't need to experience this again!

So Library Day kind of snuck up on me. So first I'll confess...I have a stack of library books on my half wall that are late. I just haven't been able to get off the couch and as much as I have tried to pawn them off on my mom or Prince Charming...they are still here! My bill should cover next years library budget increase! UGH! (your welcome Caitlin :))

My next confession...25 Christmas books in December hasn't been that fun! Some days it is, they are always excited to tear open the package, but they haven't always been excited to then sit and listen. I think I'll be wiser next year, like my friend Susan, and just pick four or five and sprinkle them throughout the month. I'm planning a whole new post on "why mother's of preschoolers feel compelled to celebrate Christmas for an entire month and the pitfalls of those efforts"...I'm thinking about getting my doctorate on the subject!!

My final confession...I still haven't bought this years Christmas titles. My shopping got railroaded when the fever started. I plan to make a bee-line to B&N tomorrow but it will be stinky leftovers I'm sure. I pray I don't come home with "Bubble Guppy's Underwater Christmas Adventure" or "SpongeBob Elf Pants".

On a positive note...two years running Miss M's favorite Christmas books is "Snowmen at Christmas". It is a very cute story about what snowmen do, while we're sleeping, to celebrate Christmas. It even has a little "eye spy" element in that there are three pictures that the illustrator hid in every picture. If you need a last minute Christmas gift, give it a whirl!!

Christmas Bucket List

Saw this list on pinterest and thought it was cute, although there are a few things on there I would like to change! To be honest, a couple of the things on the list have nothing to do with Christmas/winter...so I'm skipping them. Like shucking oysters, that will never be on any bucket list I have, EVER. I don't want to eat them, why on earth would I go through the torture of shucking them! And swimming/hot tub? No thanks, although we could do both with no problem since my mom lives in a community that has both indoors. Somehow, even though they are in a nice warm swimming facility, the thought of putting a bathing suit on from November-April just turns my stomach! And s'mores certainly are yummy, but I think I'll stick to making them over the campfire in the summer/fall.

Other items on the list are "gimmes", I mean really, who celebrates Christmas and doesn't drink hot chocolate, look at Christmas lights, fill stockings and bake cookies (okay, maybe everyone doesn't make gingerbread men, but most bake and/or eat some special Christmas cookie).

We still plan to decorate a gingerbread house (read: I need to go to Walmart and pick that five dollar house kit up)and bake cookies for Santa. Ice Skating is a nice idea, not sure we'll have the chance before Christmas, but maybe before winter is over. I think it's a nice bucket list idea, the same with seeing a play. I love the secret gift idea too, we'll discuss that at dinner tonight and see what we can come up with!

My favorite thing we've done so far this season was to volunteer together at our church. Our church, Bible Fellowship, is a major relay center for Operation Christmas Child (that's the shoebox ministry) and we went over as a family twice to help pack boxes, load trucks, unload vans, fill shoeboxes, etc. The kids were actually able to work and they had a blast doing it. We went once and Miss M begged to go back again! What a great tradition to start! That happens before Thanksgiving, which is nice because we're not so busy at that point.

The only thing left on that bucket list is 'make reindeer food'...we'll see about that. We still have 13 Christmas books to unwrap and read, two Christmas videos to watch, cookies to bake, presents to wrap, shopping to finish, etc. The reindeer may or may not be fed by us this year...maybe I can just throw some sprinkles out on the sidewalk!!

And Megan, I've been planning this post for about a week, I swear ;)

Library Day

As you may have gathered from a previous post (or ten) I do love Christmas Books. I have been reading to my kids since the day they entered this world and they both love books! We read the same books over and over, then we find new ones and fall in love with them. Here are two of my favorite Christmas books and something fun to do with each one! Enjoy!

Night Tree by Eve Bunting
This is the story of a family that has a unique Christmas tradition. They go to the woods one night before Christmas, equipped with food items to decorate a tree with. They choose a tree, hang yummy fruits and popcorn, make it look beautiful than watch the wildlife around the forest come and dine on their very own Christmas present!

Enjoy the book and then make some things to hang outside on a tree in your own yard. Stringed popcorn and cranberries, peeled clementines, or an apple. In first grade we used to get soft pretzels or bagels, slather them with peanut butter and roll them in bird seed. Tie a red ribbon and hang it up for the birds to eat! Look at it as a Christmas present to your animal friends.

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado
This is the story of a little lamb, Timothy, who has a crippled leg and can't join the other sheep on the trek to green grass. Instead he stays back, with his best friend the cow, and mills around the stable. Then strangers come into the stable and a miraculous birth occurs. This little crippled lamb offers comfort and proves that God has a special place for everyone!

Enjoy this story and then make Timothy Sticks. I taught for years with a real dynamite (who says that??) teacher, Joyce. She had a knack for coming in my first grade classroom for "special occasions" and showing us a creative, fun way of looking at things. She often came in at Christmas, read The Crippled Lamb and then handed out pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate...she called them Timothy Sticks. We make them at home now to remind us of this sweet story and how God makes us each special!

Friday Fun

Let's follow up Library Day with some Friday Fun :) I'm on a roll...

I decided, after spending wwwwaaaaayyyyy to much time on pinterest, that I wanted to have a homemade Christmas this year. I have already given up that dream and it's only December 2! Actually, it's best I give it up, then there won't be disappointment later. I do have some new, more attainable goals, that we have begun to work on today.

We are going to make three crafts for our tree, I will add more if I get these three done and still have quiet days that need filling (you can laugh out loud at that last part of the sentence if you'd like).

We're going to make tree ornaments using popsicle sticks. Today we painted the sticks green, this is a HUGE undertaking, yet should be so simple!! Getting a four year old a two year old to flip the sticks over and paint the other side is an exercise in futility. I gave up and changed the way we'll put them together for my sanity and their joy :) So, three sticks will now get glued on a piece of green construction paper in the shape of a triangle. We will decorate with little glittery foam cut-outs I found of stockings, snowmen, snowflakes and trees. I have stars for the top and some glitter to make things really crazy! I used to make these with my first graders each year, they would skip the decorating and put a little picture of themselves in the center and then write the year on the star. I may have them each make one of them too, it's nice to have thier little faces on the tree!

The next project, probably for one day next week, is cinnamon and applesauce dough ornaments. The key to this recipe is to find cinnamon at the dollar store in a huge container. It may not be the best cinnamon, but who really cares, it's going to hang on the Christmas tree! You just mix even amounts of the two ingredients and mix and knead it until it is "dough". Then roll it out, use Christmas cookie cutters to make shapes, and a straw to poke a whole for the ribbon. They take a while to dry, like days, but they smell delicious!! I made some years ago that I still use and they still smell wonderful!!

Finally, and this one can't happen until we get our tree, I want to string popcorn and cranberries! I have ALWAYS wanted to do this, seriously it's been on my bucket list since I was like five. I think the Ingall's family probably did this and since I have wanted to be Laura Ingalls all my life (yes, still, that's a whole different post) it's only to be expected that I want to decorate my tree like her! Since I haven't done this before I am accepting "tips"...what kind of string, needle, how to not break the popcorn, etc.

So there is my Friday Fun. And to be very honest with you, the fun was typing it...we have only started the first ornament. The kids are very excited about decorating them, so maybe tonight along with a movie and some popcorn! Friday's in December are Christmas movie night at our house...tonight is Buzz Saw Louie...Miss M's favorite!

Library Day

Way back when I started this little blog I wrote about Children's Literature every Tuesday...somehow I got out of the practice of doing so. Today I am reinstating Tuesday as Library Day!!






I borrowed this idea from Pinterest (if you don't know what that is and want to check it out just let me know, I'll email you an invitation). The thought is that you wrap one Christmas book for each day of December, leading up to Christmas. The kids can unwrap one each day and then you get to enjoy that book together.

The down-side to this is 1) who has that many Christmas books?? Well, I do, actually I could do more than one many days! What can I say, I'm addicted to Children's Lit and I taught for 13 years. My Christmas book collection is extensive and I add two (one for each kiddo) each year now. 2) who wants to waste all that wrapping paper?? I first saw the pic with the pretty paper, the second one used craft paper. That you can get a roll of pretty cheap and if you don't use it all for this then you have paper for another project. 3) And this is the one that is my biggest hurdle, who remembers to do these "one per day every day leading up to Christmas" activities. I mean really, I have tried every year for the last few to do some sort of advent/craft/book/activity thing and every year I fail, epically! I'm considering two options for this one. First, buck up and do it, this one seems especially easy since we read every day anyway. Second, I could just wrap up books for the week leading up to Christmas.

I think I'm going to try and do the whole month because of our reading habits. But all other Christmas countdowns will only be the week before Christmas...it's really all kids that are four and two can handle anyway...right!?

Well, Library Day is back on, if I feel really motivated I may bring back Friday Fun! It's easy this month with all the Christmas plans I have.

PS The pictures are from www.katherinemariephotography.com and www.ourfamilytreeblog.com