The Christmas Season is in full swing as we turn our calendars today from November to December!
So what do you do to count down to Christmas?
My oldest boys are looking forward to starting their Lego Advent Calendars (where they open up a little Lego set each day until Christmas). It's just one fun way we use to mark down the days.
When I was a kid, we made paper chains in school with construction paper... green, red, green, red, green, red. My little boys will be making a paper chain today! Not only is it tradition, but it also helps reinforce the skill of sequencing.
We also try to fill the days leading up to Christmas with fun Christmas activities; lights, ice skating, watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas music, Christmas plays, etc. but most importantly, reading through the entire Christmas story several times. Most of the kids have memorized most of Luke chapter 2 verses 1-14. We can't forget the true meaning of Christmas!
We are going to make our annual gingerbread house today. This year instead of using graham crackers or making the gingerbread pieces myself, we decided to buy a kit. I've never used a kit, but I think it will work out fine. If you have an Aldi nearby, you can get a set for around $8 there. That's where we got ours. It's four pounds of items. That's a bargain when you consider the cost of candy purchases in order to decorate the house(s). This way, we'll also cut down on the mess as everyone will work together to construct and decorate it. The kit also comes with ready made icing bags (though I plan on using my own).
I remember my favorite one I made from years past was when we lived in Nashville. I made a huge gingerbread church, using jolly ranches broken into pieces and melted into the gingerbread to make stained glass windows. There was a steeple and everything. It was really beautiful.
I enjoy seeing gingerbread creations that others have constructed for contests. Once you've made one from scratch using your own design, you know what time, effort, and creative skill that goes into it. Art appreciation!!! If you live in Kansas City, they usually have a gingerbread village down on the lower level of Crown Center near Fritz'. S-w-e-e-t. You can stand and look at it for an hour with all the details they've added.
To conclude today, I thought I'd add a picture from our house... our stockings hung by the chimney with care. What a sea of stockings! I made all of them until this year when we added Shad's. I ran out of the red and white fabrics, but I still had enough bells, printed green fabric, large red rick rack, and tiny red pom pons to embellish his store bought stocking. The only difference is the texture and the green band on his. Otherwise, it looks pretty close. I remember back when I made them nearly 12 years ago... I made 7. I showed them to Pete when he came home from work and he was very complimentary on the quality but then exclaimed, "Why did you make so many?" It made me giggle when I was making Shad's to know that I had to make ONE MORE!
