Waiting for Christmas
Gess is getting really excited about Christmas and is constantly asking me how many days are left. The other day we found that the local Wal-Mart was assisting young children in that answer. Gess gets very excited when she sees the sign. Oh the wonder of seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child. Here she is standing next to the silly sign, though the flash made the number disappear this was 15 until days until Christmas.
It's been a hectic and somewhat sick holiday season around here, but we have done a few fun things to get ready for the holiday and make the waiting fun for Gess. We actually started a new tradition this year thanks to a really cute gift she received from her brother and his future wife Chelsie. They got Gess an Elf on a Shelf. Here is Chelsie explaining it to her while Gess reads the book.
The elf is supposed to be Santa's spy, but we don't really do Santa around here, but that didn't make this tradition any less fun. We brought the elf (that Gess named Scout) out when we put up our tree. Each night we move him to somewhere new. Gess has had a blast finding him each day. She doesn't always start off looking for him but she sure gets excited when she notices him! "I found him, I found him!" she yells and it takes a minute before we figure out what all the commotion is about. The other day I was really sick and so we forgot to move the elf. Gess noticed that too so she went and hid him herself that time! She really loves the elf game.
We have also made cards for all our friends at church. We have mail boxes there that people can use and we encourage them to donate the money they save on stamps to the Lottie Moon Missions offering. We did this craft a few years ago in my Christmas is about giving post, but it's an easy and fun way to not only make a card, but to recycle the old ones.
All you do is cut out the pictures and text of old Christmas cards.
Then you glue them on to new paper in any order you choose.
After you add in a few stickers or stamps you are done. The hardest part was finding envelopes for them all. Last time I didn't make envelopes.
We haven't done much baking at home yet but we had fun at the library playing with food. Here is Gess making a Rice Krispy Treat House (in place of gingerbread), a Santa cracker and a Rudolph made out of little recee's cups.
We are also enjoying a book we got at the library, The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury. It has beautifully illustrated stories from all over the world as well as poems, many of which are based on familiar carols and songs we sing. Gess loves reading this together. We all take turns and are enjoying some new, as well as beloved Christmas stories.
It's been a hectic and somewhat sick holiday season around here, but we have done a few fun things to get ready for the holiday and make the waiting fun for Gess. We actually started a new tradition this year thanks to a really cute gift she received from her brother and his future wife Chelsie. They got Gess an Elf on a Shelf. Here is Chelsie explaining it to her while Gess reads the book.
The elf is supposed to be Santa's spy, but we don't really do Santa around here, but that didn't make this tradition any less fun. We brought the elf (that Gess named Scout) out when we put up our tree. Each night we move him to somewhere new. Gess has had a blast finding him each day. She doesn't always start off looking for him but she sure gets excited when she notices him! "I found him, I found him!" she yells and it takes a minute before we figure out what all the commotion is about. The other day I was really sick and so we forgot to move the elf. Gess noticed that too so she went and hid him herself that time! She really loves the elf game.
We have also made cards for all our friends at church. We have mail boxes there that people can use and we encourage them to donate the money they save on stamps to the Lottie Moon Missions offering. We did this craft a few years ago in my Christmas is about giving post, but it's an easy and fun way to not only make a card, but to recycle the old ones.
All you do is cut out the pictures and text of old Christmas cards.
Then you glue them on to new paper in any order you choose.
After you add in a few stickers or stamps you are done. The hardest part was finding envelopes for them all. Last time I didn't make envelopes.
We haven't done much baking at home yet but we had fun at the library playing with food. Here is Gess making a Rice Krispy Treat House (in place of gingerbread), a Santa cracker and a Rudolph made out of little recee's cups.
We are also enjoying a book we got at the library, The Family Read-Aloud Christmas Treasury. It has beautifully illustrated stories from all over the world as well as poems, many of which are based on familiar carols and songs we sing. Gess loves reading this together. We all take turns and are enjoying some new, as well as beloved Christmas stories.
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