Christmas Prep

Despite all the busy stuff going on, we've been trying to get ready for Christmas over here. So far here's what we've done...

The Gingerbread House

This year I asked B to decorate the gingerbread house with the kids since mine was kind of a disaster last year. (If you don't remember, we had an "avalanche" situation on the roof.) B was not into piping the icing, but he was a trooper about it. He iced the house while the kids stuck candy all over it. We let each kid take one side of the roof. I helped Eli with his, so his has more of a minimalist feel to it. Elina HAD to use all the gumdrops up, so there are literally gumdrops all over her side of the roof. Each kid also got to decorate one gingerbread man. Elina made her's fancy with a candy scarf. Overall, I think they did a great job on the house. It looks way better than the one from last year...that's all I've gotta say!

Here's some video of our gingerbread decorators-




Visited Santa
We went back to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa this year. We were so impressed with their Santa last year that we had to go back. He looks so real. Not that I've really met the guy, but according to all the pictures and merchandise, this guy looks like the real thing.

I had spent a few days prepping Eli for Santa. I showed him pictures of Santa and told him that Santa says, "Ho ho ho." So now Eli always says, "Santa...ho ho ho." When it was our turn for pictures, Eli started getting nervous. I picked him up and was ready to be in the picture with the kids, but then Eli let me put him on Santa's lap. So we actually got a picture of both kids on Santa's lap smiling (kinda). It went better than we expected!

Afterwards Elina told me that she asked Santa for a car with 2 seats (she's been asking for this for a while now) and that he said, "Ok." I said, "Really? He said you can have it?" And Elina said, "Yeah, but he said I had to be good."

Saw Christmas Lights

We drove to Windcrest to see lights again this year. Windcrest is a community where the residents really take the time to decorate and light up their houses. This was the 50th year that they've had their community competition. We went after the judging because they have maps that show you the winning houses...which makes it easier to maneuver within the community. We let the kids out of their car seats and drove slowly through the neighborhood to see pretty lights. The kids had a great time...looking at lights and eating candy canes. I think most of the excitement is the fact that they aren't in their car seats. Then when it was time to go, Eli said, "Bye-bye, pretty lights."

Here's video of one of the crazy houses that synchronizes the lights with music-



Made Cookie Ornaments
During the week of Christmas, we make sugar cookies into ornaments to hang on the tree. This way the kids can eat cookies off of the tree when they want. Before we put the cookies into the oven, we just take a straw to poke a hole into the top of each cookie. Then after they're baked and decorated, we put ribbon through the hole and tie it. This year, Eli helped with the cookie-making as well. The kids really enjoy rolling out dough and using the cookie cutters. It sure was a fun, messy night!

So as you can see, we've been keeping ourselves busy with plenty of Christmas activities!