Advent Countdown

Mom overplanned the advent countdown a bit this year and we actually had to skip a couple of activities.  We packed in lots of fun though!  We tried more this year for experiences than treats or toys.  That was a nice idea in theory, but made us busy on some already busy nights (hence the adjusting of activities).  

We made lots of baked goods which was super fun, but probably not a great idea for our waistlines in hind sight.  When you make a batch of gingerbread cookies, it makes about a million cookies.  Don’t tell the kids, but there are still some hidden away in the freezer.  Ben enjoyed the cutting of cookies, but didn’t have interest for too long.  Elizabeth wanted to be by Mom’s side for each step.  She even got a chair and attempted to sit and watch them bake.  We assured her that she could check periodically and that the timer would let us know when they were done.  We made pumpkin bread, truffles and many other treats.  It was a year of several kitchen messes!  

The kids made a gingerbread creation out of graham crackers and an upside down ice cream cone for a tree.  We celebrated the shortest day of the year by seeing how many things we could cram into that one day.  We were pretty successful and we didn’t even get out of our pajamas.  We enjoyed some special movies including The Grinch complete with Grinch cookies for a snack.  We visited our favorite light display at Rhema and toured other lights in our car on the way.  

Overall it was a really fun time anticipating the upcoming celebration of Jesus’ birth and of course dreaming about what Santa might deliver to our house.  Our elf, Speedy, helped us count down the days with his antics.  He swung from lights, messed up Mom’s decorations and tried to hide from the kids in lots of clever places.  They were always too smart for Speedy though and found him in all of his hiding spots.