Christmas Train

One of our countdown items was to visit the Christmas Train.  We got to take friends that had never been before this year.  It was super fun for us to get to share this experience that is a favorite of ours.  We enjoyed our traditional train ride and cinnamon roll.  We saw the puppet show that we had missed in the past and it was super cute.  The kids really enjoyed that.  We also got to do a wagon ride this year that was new to us, play on some fun playgrounds and the kids got to ride a smaller train ride as well.  Our first order of business is always to stop and see Santa for a picture.  The kids did well and it was E’s first year to stand near Santa without being held.  Making progress!  Both kids reviewed their lists and Santa tucked them away for safe keeping.  

 Ben's list

 E's list

It worked out that our chosen date was also the last day of school before winter break.  It was a nice way to start our time off together and we look forward to next year!

 The McCulloughs getting ready to board the train!

Christmas Parties

Both kids had Christmas parties at their schools.  Elizabeth enjoyed lots of treats and each kid brought gifts for their classroom.  Dad was able to go with her and enjoy this time.  She also performed in a program and sang Let’s All Clap for Santa Claus.  Her Santa shirt is still among her favorites and will be worn until it is just too hot for long sleeves.  We all enjoyed watching her sing.  She was a natural on stage!

Ben had his first Christmas party in elementary school.  Mom was able to attend and made the festive sparkling punch for the kids to enjoy.  There were reindeer donuts, a reindeer hat craft, reindeer snack bags, snowman frames, button wreaths and other yummy snacks and fun.  It was crazy with 26 little ones going from one station to the next but so much fun! 

Both kids had a singing program at church and enjoyed singing lots of Christmas songs.  Elizabeth loves her music teacher so much and wants to be just like her.  She often pretends to teach music class at home and sings these songs to her animals and babies.  It is always fun to watch them on stage and both kids ask repeatedly when they will get to sing on the big stage again. 

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.