Last year we started our tradition of doing a countdown to Christmas. Planning the 24 days is part of the fun as we remember good times in the past and come up with exciting new activities. Most nights Lily would go to bed and say "I can't wait to see what we do tomorrow!" Mia didn't quite seem to get that there was a countdown going on, but she seemed to enjoy most of the activities. I tell you what though. This year seemed to wear us all out. Around December 20th we realized we were totally overdoing it this year. Last year, both girls were in a Mommy Morning Out program two mornings a week. This year, Lily is in 5 morning a week prekindergarten and Mia goes to a Parent Morning Out three mornings a week. We had to consider their school schedules and their gymnastics classes, not to mention our work schedules which have been a little more hectic than usual recently. Ryan was in Chicago for a training seminar for six days, and we travelled to Alabama for a couple of days. Really, it was a lot. I think next year, we'll try to cut a few of the more involved activities and do a few more at-home activities. Even though this was tiring, I think we all still enjoyed it. Most importantly to me, we made a lot of memories and continued with a fun tradition. This blog entry tells what we did each day along with showing one picture from each day except Christmas Eve which needed a few more. Let the fun begin:
Day 1: After Lily got out of school and Mia finished gymnastics class, we headed to Lenox Square to ride the Pink Pig and meet Santa Claus. We all loved the Pink Pig ride, and the girls did great sitting on Santa's lap. Mia told him she wanted a zip line while Lily requested the Princess Castle which holds lots of princesses and their stuff.
Day 2: We decorated our back door with gel clings. Mia put up the Christmas trees and snowman while Lily put Santa and a gingerbread man.
Day 3: Movie Day at home while Ryan was in Chicago. We had a picnic lunch in the living room and watched Prep and Landing. After nap time, the girls and I laid on the couch and watched a Winnie the Pooh Christmas special. For dinner, we had another picnic in the living room and watched Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Enchanted Christmas. Both girls liked this movie; Mia likes to point out that there's a mean piano (she pronounces it "pee-an-eo") but that's okay because Beast is louder than the piano. We enjoyed some hot apple cider afterwards.
Day 4: The girls and I went to Chattanooga to ride the North Pole Limited train ride. This train takes you through a "magic tunnel" that transports you all the way to the North Pole. You enjoy gingerbread cookies and light displays on the way there. Once you arrive, Santa and Mrs. Claus join you on the train and take pictures with you. On the way back to the train station, we had fun looking for elves that were hiding in the bushes.
Day 5: The girls put together a huge How the Grinch Stole Christmas floor puzzle. They loved it. It made me laugh that Mia kept calling Little Cindy Loo-Who (who is pictured on the puzzle) "hal-a-louie." She couldn't quite say Hallelujah and she couldn't remember Little Cindy Loo-Who so she came up with that hybrid name.
Day 6: Special Christmas lunch with Granna at The Swan House. Such a girly place that we all love!
Day 7: Liz and I helped the girls make this gingerbread house and trees. Honestly, this is probably the last gingerbread house I will ever try to make. I bought what appeared to be an easy to assemble kit at Michael's. It didn't go so well. I didn't realize you had to wait so long between steps during assembly, so that didn't go over very well with the girls. Plus, the icing didn't really hold things together so well. If you could see the inside of this house, you would see a lot of duct tape. No kit should have to require duct tape. To top it off, the tape didn't even hold it together that well so I also applied superglue the next day. Crazy! So, get a good look now because you probably won't see another gingerbread house on this blog!
Day 8: The girls made Christmas door hangers.
Day 9: We all drove over to Fort Payne to see their Christmas parade. Josh marched in the parade in his formal fireman's uniform, so it was really fun to see him. Amy came up from Birmingham too, so it was great to visit with them. The girls loved that many of the people on the floats threw out candy, and we all enjoyed the big bonfire in the square. It was pretty cool outside so that fire warmed us up nicely.
Day 10: The girls colored wooden Christmas figures (Santas and penguins) at Bama's house. We drove down to Birmingham after the parade the night before because Ryan and I were attending our friend's wedding on Saturday morning.
Day 11: Family game night playing Sequence for Kids. It was a lot of fun, and we have played it several times since this evening.
Day 12: The girls decorated a little craft tree to be our table centerpiece.
Day 13: Both girls received new Search and Find books. Lily's is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and had pictures from the movie in it while Mia's was called Christmas Fun and had lots of different scenes in it.
Day 14: The girls had fun making lots of different pipe cleaner crafts with red, green and white pipe cleaners.
Day 15: This evening didn't go quite as planned. We were going to do s'mores in our outdoor fireplace. However, just before dinnertime, Ryan received a call from his friend Charlie offering him an extra ticket to the Falcons game, and it was in a suite. We couldn't turn that down! I didn't want to try to man the outdoor fireplace, the girls and the s'mores by myself so we did indoor s'mores instead. Liz knows how much I love this treat, so she bought me a little cage-type thing that makes six s'mores at one time either in the oven or on an indoor grill. It worked great!
Day 16: We drove to Callaway Gardens for their Fantasy in Lights show. This was a favorite activity last year, and it didn't disappoint this year. So much fun!
Day 17: We went to The Georgian Club for Breakfast with Santa. I don't have the picture yet that they took there, but here's one of the girls with me. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast, several fun crafts and a nice visit with Santa where the girls told him they wanted a rocking horse and a rocking chair.
Day 18: Meme's Christmas Party at Jodi and Michael's house. This is a fun time gathering with my Dad's side of the family. We have a fantastic meal, lots of time talking, laughing and singing, a time to reflect on the meaning of Christmas as one of the kids reads the Bible story and a lot of fun playing a white elephant gift exchange. I love this night!
Day 19: The four of us went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for their Holiday Lights. It was a beautiful evening, and the lights looked great.
Day 20: We all went to The Center for Puppetry Arts to see Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Neither girl had ever been to a real puppet show before. In fact, several times Mia asked "where are the puppets?" She is only used to the little brown paper bags ones we make at home; she wasn't sure about these several feet tall ones! You weren't allowed to take pictures inside the theatre, but I snapped this one at the Jim Henson exhibit that was showing before we walked in.
Day 21: Ryan took the girls to Chuck E Cheese for a little fun on a Daddy-Daughters Date.
Day 22: Granny's Christmas Party at my parents' house. I am so glad my mom's family was able to come down from Tennessee and over from Washington State to celebrate with us. It is always so wonderful to see them!
Day 23: Movie Theatre Day. Ryan and I took the girls to see Arthur Christmas which was a super cute movie. I will add it to my list of holiday favorites. Mia was exhausted and fell asleep in my arms with about 15 minutes left in the movie. Later in the day while the girls napped, I made snicker doodle cookie dough. When they woke up, I shaped the dough into balls, and they had a lot of fun rolling the dough in different color sprinkles.
Day 24: Christmas Eve has lots of fun traditions! After a yummy breakfast of scones and blueberry jam (from the awesome gift basket sent by Great-Grandpa Hooks and Lois), we took a box of cookies to Smyrna Fire Station #2. We like to thank the fireman for working at Christmastime to protect us.
After a pretty low-key day, it was time to start winding down and getting ready for bed. First up, new pajamas for the girls!
Next up is hanging the stockings. Mia needed a lift from Daddy.
Lily is now tall enough to hang them without being picked up.
We put out water, carrots and seeds on our deck for the reindeer.
Of course, we have to put out our homemade cookies and milk for Santa on the fireplace. After taking this picture, the girls remembered they had each made Santa a card the day before, so we put those by his snack too. They just knew he would be so excited to have a card to take home and show to Mrs. Claus. After this, it was time for bed. Lily reminded Mia to stay in her bed and sleep in the next morning so Santa could make his visit.
After the girls went to sleep, Ryan and I brought all the wrapped presents up from downstairs. In addition to our gifts to the girls and each other, there are gifts in here from Grandpops and Grandma Jan and from Great-Grandpa Hooks and Lois. We knew the girls would be excited to see this in the morning!
Santa stopped by at some point to stuff the stockings and leave the girls their presents. They received a Princess doll set to share; Lily received two new Leap Pad games, and Mia received two new puzzles. Thanks Santa!
We were all excited for Christmas morning to arrive!
