December 7th

Make a Christmas wreath

We made this cute wreath all together. The kids loved helping,
and I am really happy with how it turned out.
For instructions to make your own look here.
Now I just need to get some ribbon to tie it up top with.

December 6th

Christmas Caroling

We had fun going to Grandma Taggart's with a lot of the cousins to sing her some Christmas songs since she can't get around anywhere. The Mom's all got a little teary-eyed when we sang "Silent Night". It was a good experience. Then we ate some cookies and hot chocolate.

December 5th

Dutch Christmas Eve!

Sawyer's chocolate "S". The only morsel of the morning left for me to take a picture of.

Tonight is the night the Sinterklaas and his helper Zwierte Pete make a visit. We had a nice little dinner of Dutch pancakes with Nutella inside (yum). The kids put out their shoes and fill them with hay and carrots (for the white horse that Sinterklaas rides). In the morning, if they are bad they get coal, and if they are good they get treats. Luckily our kids squeaked by and got treats. It is tradition to get your initial in chocolate, and they also got some chocolate coins. Our whole family got some other traditional treats of honey waffle cookies, spekulaase, and chocolate sprinkles.

December 4th

Make Christmas Cookies

mmmm...my favorite sugar cookie recipe ever!
We kept some to eat and some to share with cousins and aunts and uncles at Grandma Betty's.

December 3rd

Decorate the Christmas tree.

McKinley was a great helper (a little grabby with excitement, but good), Sawyer only wanted to put the balls on, and Hayden spent the whole time battling to get two snowmen on the tree. I only had to move around a few ornaments after they were done.

December 2nd

Make a Christmas Countdown chain

December 1st

Our Christmas advent activities have begun. Today was "pick an angel from the angel tree". I let each of the kids choose their own. After I told McKinley that the "mother" angel on the tree she chose didn't mean she was buying a present for me, she decided to pick a girl. Sawyer insisted on a boy, and Hayden was adamant about taking a gradma angel. He loves grandmas.

This next part of the day didn't officially make it on the Advent Calendar (I had to make some cuts) we did it on the first day anyway. Last year on Christmas Eve we got the Elf on the Shelf book and doll. It is about the elf who comes to live at your house to watch if you've been good or bad that day. Every night he reports back to Santa and every morning he is hiding in a new spot in your house to keep an eye on things. We were supposed to name it together, but McKinley wanted to call him Edward (no coaching from me!), Sawyer likes Lizzy, and Hayden wants Woody. So we call him whatever we want, but officially it's Eddie. I had to promise it would not hide in bedrooms after McKinley was in hysterics worrying over the creepy little face hiding in her room watching her.