christmas cheer.

We have one day left of school before Christmas break begins and we are all SO excited! 2 weeks together, lots of family time, Christmas activities, birthday celebrations, cooking baking and decorating, movie watching.....it's really the best time of the year. 

We've done a few of our favorite Christmas activities this past week to get ready.

There is something magical about a Christmas tree with lights on. Every morning I wake up early and come downstairs to turn the lights on the tree. I sip my coffee, prep breakfast and wait for the kids to run downstairs. We keep the lights on all morning while we listen to Christmas music as we eat. 

After school one day this week we decided to decorate our gingerbread houses. Usually we just buy one but the kids wanted their own so we bought 2 of the Costco sets so Simon could decorate eat the accessories while the big kids worked. They spent so much time slowly thinking about their creations...although they both agreed it was too much work and only want one next year! Ha!

Simon just adores his big brother and is always so sad to see the bus pull away with his older siblings off to school. So, a little hand hold on the way to the bus stop made him feel much better yesterday.

As a special treat while we shopped around town for Christmas presents we stopped to get a Seahawks donut. This kid loves donuts. He refused to let me have even the smallest bite and devoured the entire thing before licking his fingers. Good thing his sister is having donuts at her birthday party tomorrow!!

Lucy got to share a special Christmas tradition with her class yesterday and chose to write about our annual homemade advent tree. Every year I make this little (well, big I guess since it's taller than her!) tree and each ornament reveals a special daily Christmas activity. Some are more exciting than others but the kids love checking the tree each  morning when they wake up. I love that she thinks this is so special she couldn't wait to share it with her friends at school.

Merry Christmas!!