It's the most wonderful time of the year! This means it's time for our annual Christmas countdown. I love this tradition! Here's a look at what we did to count down this year.
Day 1: Both girls had a Barnes and Noble gift card, so we visited after school. Mia took advantage of the Buy 2, Get 1 Magic Tree House deal while Lily bought one of the bigger Thea Stilton books.
Day 2: We went down to Atlantic Station with the Smith Family which was so much fun! Elizabeth had free ice skating passes, so we gave that a whirl. We all had a blast and look forward to doing this again. The girls did great at their first time to ever try skating; I was proud of them.
Ryan and I had a few laps together. 😀
The big, beautiful tree in the middle made for a great picture of the 5 kids. This was before it started "snowing" which they loved.
We enjoyed some beverages up on the balcony overlooking the middle area with the big tree. It was a gorgeous evening with fabulous friends!
Day 3: The four of us went bowling; Lily whooped up on us!
Day 4: Grinch Night at our house. The girls fixed their hair like Whos, and we enjoyed a Who Feast made up of Roast Beast (NY Strip Steak), Who Hash (hash browns), Grinch Peas (English peas), Who Pudding (vanilla pudding) and Grinch Juice (Sprite and Lime Sherbert) while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This was a fun evening together.
Day 5: Christmas Perler beads creations.
Day 6: Christmas paintings
Day 7: Xdrenaline after school with the Crowley family!
Day 8: The girls picked out items from charity catalogs to give their own money to. Mia chose giving Fast Growing Seeds through World Vision while Lily chose Feeding Two Hungry Children for a week through Samaritan's Purse. It's good for them to be reminded how fortunate they are, and how easy it is to share with others.
Day 9: Ice Cream outing to Haagan Daaz after dinner.
Day 10: Peter Pan at Cobb Energy Center. We all enjoyed this show.
Day 11: Brunch after church at The Georgian Club. So yummy!
After brunch, Lily had her piano recital at Ridgeview which was lovely, and then we ended the evening by having the Smith's over for the Falcons' game.
Day 12: Mad Libs, Christmas edition, led to some good laughs
Day 13: Stonehaven's Christmas program at school. Everyone did such a great job. I love this evening. We were very proud of Lily too who chose to play "Ode to Joy" on the guitar this year; she learned that at camp over the summer.
Day 14: An evening at the Aquarium. We had an absolute blast, and I could fill this with tons of pictures; instead I'll just put up this collage. The place was practically empty which was nice, and that led to lots of close up views. We enjoyed exploring the new kids area, seeing the dolphin show and the sea lion show, touching the starfish and rays, climbing in with the penguins, and taking in the massive tanks filled with tropical fish, huge manta rays, beluga whales, whale sharks and many other sea life. Towards the end of our time, we happen to glance in a window, and a lady came out and offered to give us a backstage tour. She took us above the huge tank where they feed the whale sharks (and friends) and told us all sorts of interesting facts. This was such a cool evening!
Day 15: Reading The Polar Express before bed.
Day 16: Game day. We started with Argh.
Moved on to Kid Trivia Pursuit.
Ended with Harry Potter Clue. It was a fun evening!
Day 17: Family Christmas in Birmingham. Liz arranged for all the kids to read and act out Luke 2 which was absolutely precious. Merritt made an adorable Jesus, Liam was the cutest little sheep (who refused to keep his ears on!), Caroline was a darling angel, and Lily and Mia made excellent narrators and shepherds. This may have been my favorite enactment of Luke 2 that I've ever seen!
Day 18: We drove back from Birmingham in time for Meme's Christmas gathering at Wayne's house.
Another fun evening with family, food, singing and presents.
Day 19: We had family movie night to watch Elf. We were so glad Grandpops was in town and joined in with us!
Day 20: Ryan, David and the girls went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them during the day (boo for me having to work).
Day 21: We played a Christmas edition of Would You Rather while eating a spaghetti dinner. Not really easy to get pictures of this! A few of the questions that led to fun discussion: Would you rather...be at home and receive lots of presents or go to Disney World and not receive any more presents, visit the North Pole or visit Bethlehem, be one of Santa's elves or one of Santa's reindeer, receive many small presents or receive one large present, or lastly, not celebrate Christmas this year or not celebrate your birthday this year?
Day 22: We drove up to Jefferson City to visit with the Farris family. We missed having Granny with us. It was nice to visit with everyone else, and the kids had a fun time together. We enjoyed getting to meet baby Jackson!
Day 23: After driving home from Tennessee, we made treats for our local fire station. Mia wanted to make her famous brownies, and Lily opted to make elephant ears since that's what she accidentally burned a few months ago which actually brought the fire department to our home early one morning!
Day 24: Christmas Eve, wow! We started off the morning by having Mom, Dad and Wayne's family over for our traditional brunch. It is so very delicious, and I don't eat again for the rest of the day! After brunch, everyone stayed to watch the Falcons game (or part of it) which was fun too.
After the game, our family delivered the treats to our fire station. The guys seemed to appreciate it, and they even let the girls climb in the truck this year.
Finally, the girls get to open one present before bed. This year they opened boxes that contained Kavu messengers bags, new pajamas, winter coats and gloves.
It's been another wonderful December filled with lots of fun times and memory making. The highlights for me were definitely ice skating and our aquarium trip. Time with extended family is always well spent and enjoyable too. We are so incredibly blessed. Merry Christmas!
