One of my favorite family traditions around this time is reading all of the accounts and testimonies of the Savior by candle light. We usually read scriptures as a family in the morning before the kids go off, but during the month of December, we read after supper by candle light scriptures about the Savior's birth, mission and life. It is amazing how the candle is so simple, but brings a special feeling of togetherness. The kids take turns blowing it out each night, and it is the coveted responsibility.:) They love reading about Jesus, and acting out His life with this cute, indestructible nativity my mother-in-law gave us a few years ago. It is darling, and is one of my most cherished Christmas possessions.
I hope my kids remember the feelings they have as we read together as a family!
Another fun thing we got to do around Christmas this year is find out if our baby is a boy or girl. We wrapped up an ornament, and told the kids Santa had a gift for them, and they were to guess by the gift if we were having a brother or sister. They were in SHOCK, and it took Landon especially a while to get it to sink in that he was having a brother. They boys both had their guesses about what it might be. Landon thought it was a girl and Easton was sure it was a boy. I love Easton's speedy reaction to Santa's suggestion about him learning to change poopy diapers. He didn't want any part of that. That is my least favorite part too.:)
Our elf, Frankin came! Last year Christmas got so busy, that I couldn't justify the extra work it took to have him around if it didn't have a purpose. I wanted him to encourage the kids to serve each other during a season that can get a little selfish, and crazy. So Franklin gave the boys kindness challenges. It really worked well! This year he got into a bit of mischief, but also gave challenges for the kids to serve the family. Franklin tried to get them to understand that there are different ways to help and serve. He had them do challenges from all of the 5 love languages(gifts, service, touch, words of encouragement, and quality time).
Last year Santa left a suit he had grown out of, and the boys love to play with it. I found Landon dressed up as Santa and singing Christmas carols one afternoon when the elf first got here. When I asked Landon about it, he said it was so the elf wouldn’t get homesick. This boy is such a sweetheart!
Franklin left the boys Christmas socks with a note explaining that these socks are warm and fuzzy just like they would make each other feel by DOING something nice for each member of our family. Franklin told the boys that they could GIVE someone a sock AFTER they did something nice for that person like make their bed, etc. The boys could only pass out ONE sock at a time, so each person had 2 random acts of service performed for them. They got really excited about doing something for each person, and then getting to hand them a sock! (Love language: Service)
Spider
Frankie appeared one morning with webs for the kids to draw a name and
write 5 NICE things about that family member on the web. The kids were
pretty excited that Franklin shares their love of super heros. (Love language: kind words)
This tree was out on the curb for garbage day. We drug it home and told the kids Franklin brought it from the North Pole for their room. The lights didn’t work, so Frankie found some random strands around our house, but couldn’t put them up the first night, because he got tangled up in them. He put up their webs as decoration instead, to remind them to finish them, from a kindness challenge the day before.
The next day he put up the lights, and the kids thought they looked “magical”. They didn’t seem to notice that the lights were two different types.
Franklin also left crafts and supplies that I have been meaning to try with the kids.:) They had no ornaments on their upstairs tree to they had fun making their own with supplies Franklin left.
Landon made this cute Grinch mask at school and asked me to take his picture.
We also did their special time each day. I try to spend 15 minutes one-on-one with each kid in the morning, and 15 minutes one-on-one time with each child in the afternoon. Most days it happens.:) The one in the morning is usually some type of learning activity, and the one in the afternoon is what ever they would like to do with me. We play games, build forts, and play pretend.
This is Easton fishing for letter sounds, with magnetic letters, and then saying the sounds. He loved this learning game!
Easton knows most of his letter sounds and is learning to sound out words. He recently sounded out his first word, and then that turned into his first sentence. I was so proud of him! He was pretty happy about it too.:)
We had some fun winter snacks. I made extras of these to keep in the fridge, so they could enjoy a snowman cheese string whenever they needed a snack.
Landon did this sight word punch game with me. You punch open the cup and take out the sight word, and read it.
If you have more than one boy close together in age, you know that they really feed off each other. They wrestle, and roughhouse, and everything becomes a sword or a weapon. I wouldn't have it any other way.:) My boys love to wrestle and and pretend to fight all the time, so this punching game was right up his alley.
Elf bandaids!
More elf mischief!
Frankie left craft supplies for the boys to “make a blizzard”, because there was no snow still. But the kindness challenge was that they had to make it as a gift for each other, and make what they think the other person would like (love language:gifts).
They had sooo much fun making blizzards for each other.
Frankie hiding in the Santa suit.
My boys saw this Darth Vader, and asked to get their picture taken by it. They still love anything Star Wars!
All month long, we play Santa, sun up to sun down.:)
I love his stuffed tummy!
Another favorite tradition is the minivan express. Kind of like the Polar Express. The kids think they are going to bed for the night, and get into their PJs, but when they get up to their beds, there is a golden ticket waiting on their pillows, and they know we are going straight into the van to look at lights as a family. We drink hot chocolate, and have some sort of a treat to enjoy while we drive.
All aboard the minivan express! Dave puts lights in our car to make it really special for the kids. Love that man!
The kids couldn't find Frankie all day. It turns out he was waiting in the car with his own ticket, ready to look at lights with us. He just got there a little early.:)
Not too far away, in Kirtland, they have some historical sights from our church. At Christmas time they have a huge nativity display, with hundreds of unique and beautiful nativities from all over the world. This section of the display had ones that were more kid friendly, so we had to take their pictures by it!
They also had a room with a large wooden nativity, and tons of costumes for the kids to dress up up in and play with. Here is the whole crew again!
Oaklyn sat right down inside the manger, picked up baby Jesus, and snuggled with him. It was so tender and sweet! I can't wait for her to have a real life baby brother to snuggle with in a few months.
My little shepard.
We did garage sale shopping again this year for Christmas, and we managed to have the kids all get something for each other for under 20 dollars. We also bought a kitchen from a second hand store for 40 dollars, and Dave worked with a doctor that was getting rid of a box full of toys, and gave them to us. So we were able to have Christmas for under 60 dollars! I love thoughtful people like that doctor who remember what is like to be in residency, and help when they can. It made our Christmas really special! We also were SPOILED by grandparents and Aunts and Uncles who got the kids some really fun stuff. The kids were so excited when they came down Christmas morning. We feel so grateful!
Oaklie really got into opening up gifts this year, and was quite good at it.:)
Landon has been wanting a camera for such a long time, and is now documenting our ENTIRE lives with this little camera Santa gave him.
The kids love the kitchen, and have already whipped up some delicious meals for us with it.
Franklin rewarded himself with a tropical vacation after his cold stay in Ohio. He was kind enough to send the kids snap shots of his first day in paradise.
We all got sick Christmas Eve. It was one of the worst viruses we have ever had, so Franklin bought us some cold ice cream and left it in the freezer to help with our fevers.
Because we were sick Christmas Eve, we didn't get to do our normal traditions. It was a huge bummer! We still managed to watch the nativity video our church has out, instead of acting it out like we usually do on our own(since we could barely make it off the couch). You can find the video here:
Instead, we got blessings from Dave, which is a special prayer to help you when you are sick. I can't wait to start up the nativity again next year! We left cookies and food for Santa and his reindeer. And, on Christmas, we were feeling a bit better, so that night we had breakfast for dinner(which we usually do Christmas Eve). The kids loved decorating their waffle trees with all kinds of goodies.
Even if you are sick, Christmas is a magical holiday. I loved having Dave home, and being with my little family. I thought I loved Christmas as a child, but seeing it through the eyes of my own children has made me happier than I could ever imagine!
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