I can’t believe Christmas Eve is here!  The closer we have gotten to the big day, the more excited the kids have gotten.  I have too but with a little bit of sadness mixed in.

I am happy and blessed that I have a happy and healthy family and that we can all get together to celebrate in various forms over the next few days.  But I am a mix of emotions as well because we won’t be celebrating our little angel’s First Christmas.  Having already had two Firsts, I know how special they are and am a little wistful that we won’t be having another one.  But at the same time I am excited to share this special time with my children and see the magic of the season through their eyes.  Christmas really is all about the kids and it’s so much fun!!

So I will be smiling through the tears (Christmas music makes my cry on a good day lol) and enjoying every minute of the next few days while at the same time remembering our little angel.  Told you I was a mix of emotions.

On a happier note, the kids are going to be jumping for joy tomorrow night when they open their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.  I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they see what their grandparents have in store for them come January!  Sorry folks but it has to remain a secret until the kids find out and then I can shout it from the roof tops!!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and may the magic of the holiday season stay with you through the New Year.

I can’t believe we are already at December 8th!!  This Christmas season seems to be flying by but this year, I can honestly say we are taking time out of our busy lives and enjoying important family moments, thanks to the #25daysofchristmas challenge set out by Andrea at a peek inside the fishbowl.

I will admit that our advent activities got off to a rocky start when our first activity – write a letter to Santa – fell on the 1st day.  Being a school day, the last thing my son wanted to do was “more work”.  Being almost 7 I think he is beginning to outgrow (sniff, sniff) Santa   But I do love how flexible the envelopes are.  Makes it easy to switch activities the night before so we end up doing something that everyone will enjoy.  So here is a recap of our first 7 days.

Day 1 – Write a letter to Santa.  Surprisingly this did not go over well.  Could be that we attempted to do this after homework and my son was just burnt out.  So I just substituted a Christmas story at bedtime and everyone was happy.

Day 2 – Hang outside lights and decorations. We took advantage of great weather to finally hang some outside lights and decorations.

Day 3 – Read a Christmas story. As December 3rd fell on a Beaver night, our activity had to be something simple and quick.  So a bedtime story about Christmas was perfect.  This time we read My Christmas Stocking which is a great little story about how Saint Nicholas started the tradition of presents in stockings.

Day 4 – Christmas craft. Since Friday was a PD Day, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a craft day.  So I found these great little kits at Michael’s to decorate your own Christmas tree.  Was easy enough for the 3 year old but not too boring for the 6 year old (hard to find the right combination sometimes!).  I think they turned out pretty good.

Day 5 – Pick out a tree. For me, Christmas is not Christmas without a real tree, a trait I seem to have passed onto my son who was very excited to pick out “the perfect” tree.  Felt a little weird picking out a tree without snow on the ground.  But I think we picked the right one.

Day 6 – Decorate the tree and house. The kids absolutely loved decorating the tree!! And this was the first year I didn’t worry about broken ornaments or the tree being knocked down.  It would seem I no longer have any babies in the house.  Didn’t they do a fabulous job?!

Day 7 – Make Paper Chains. Since the kids are older and less likely to knock over a Christmas tree, I have started a kids tree.  This is one they get to make or hang any kind of ornament they want on it and they had a great time making the paper chain for it.

We are all having so much fun with this and can’t wait to see what is coming next!