Preparing for Christmas

December has been an enjoyable month for our family. With Jaden and Cody comprehending and speaking more this year, they're able to understand a bit more about what Christmas means. We've loved involving them in more of our Christmas traditions.

We started our holiday season early and decorated the house right after Thanksgiving. Jason and I put up the tree during the boys' naptime, but the boys were quite excited to join us with the decorating part when they awoke. Cody and Jaden needed some help getting the ornament to actually stay on the tree, but they loved picking out which ornament to hang and where it should go.

The only ornaments they chose that didn't actually make it on the tree were these miniature Cozy Coupe ornaments (from Grammy and Papa last year). The boys thought they were SO cool and just wanted to push them around the house. Why waste a perfectly good car by relegating it motionless on a tree? :)

Daddy helped with some of the higher placements.

And when we were all done (pretty much when the boys lost interest), Daddy showed the boys the under-the-tree view. My favorite part of this pic is the identical way the boys are crossing their legs!

One other decoration the boys helped with was painting these mini tree decorations for our wall. I basically just drew a tree on our easel paper, gave the boys paint, and asked them to decorate it. In the beginning, I wasn't intending it as a decoration (I just desperately needed a new activity on a somewhat fussy day). But, the boys were so proud of their final product that we cut the trees out and hung them in our kitchen. The next day, we used contact paper and colored tissue paper to make the stars.

The decoration that I was MOST proud of this year, however, were the stockings for Jaden and Cody. For as long as I can remember, my stocking has always been an appliqued Snoopy stocking lovingly handmade by my Aunt Marian. What a special memory! My sister has appliqued several for her family, so I thought I could give it a try, too. Boy, was it a lot of work! It was fun to do, though, and I was proud of how the stocking turned out. Here is Jaden's football Santa:

Even though I started on the stocking way back in the summer, I knew that there was NO way I could complete both boys' stockings in time for Christmas. Thankfully, my mom graciously volunteered to sew one of them for me. Grammy put in many, many hours of work to complete Cody's golfing Santa stocking. It turned out beautifully! Here are both stockings together:

And here is our Christmas mantel... gotta love the toys and kid gear that are ever-present in the background of pics these days!

When December 1st arrived, we took some time each day to focus on the Advent season. To tell the boys the true Story of Christmas, we used this Advent calendar (made by Grammy) that was an annual tradition in Amy's household.

Jaden and Cody have been very eager to place new felt items on this banner each day.

They've really seemed to understand and retain quite a few details from the Christmas story this year, too. This video shows the boys' explanation of their Advent banner.

In addition, each day of Advent, the boys have been opening a door on this Advent box (thanks, Matt and Kim, for this thoughtful gift!). In the past, Jason and I have used the Advent box as a way to give small gifts and plan activities for one another during this busy time of year. This year, it was a joy to see Cody and Jaden's excitement to open the boxes each morning.

We couldn't actually fill all of the boxes at the beginning of Advent because the boys loved opening the doors each day and even using the Advent box as a parking garage for their cars! Instead, each morning, we'd fill just one box with a piece of paper which told the boys what their special treat or activity of the day would be. It was a fun game for them to find which box held the special paper. Often, later in the day, we'd find one boy opening up random doors of the Advent box, saying "paper, paper," looking for another treat. It was readily apparent that they both have loved this tradition! 

Probably a third of our Advent box items were pieces of candy for the boys. The other two-thirds included activities that we did as a family. One night, we had our first ever Schleicher family movie night with popcorn.

Of course, Jaden and Cody don't really sit through movies at all yet (which is why we've never had a movie night). We figured that watching a episode or two of a Thomas the Train Christmas special would be perfect. Eating the popcorn (which they LOVE) helped Cody and Jaden stay still for at least 20 minutes of Thomas. At one point in the video, Thomas was trying to catch a runaway sled and Jaden enthusiastically called out, "Go get it, Thomas!" We knew that the movie night was a success! :)

Another day, we took the boys to a local event called the Festival of Trees. I forgot to take a picture of the actual room full of trees. Many businesses or organizations from around town decorate themed trees. Visitors can vote for their favorite tree. Without hesitation, the boys chose a tall, blue snowman tree as their top choice.

In another room, small carnival games were set up for kids. This part of the event was not well-done at all, as the games were very cheesy (see the super-small beanbag game below). 

There wasn't much to do here, but we got a few minutes of family enjoyment from these photo boards...

Jaden as a snowman

Rudolph-Cody

...and this mini-golf game.

Another night, we read bedtime Christmas stories by the light of the Christmas tree.

One box idea that Mommy was particularly excited about was a visit to a local church's Live Nativity. We were impressed with the real donkey, sheep, and goats by the manger. Jaden was fairly brave about petting each animal.

Cody pet a few of the animals eventually, but he seemed a little more nervous about the jittery animals.

One of our last activities was a family cookie-making night. We made three different kinds of cookies, one of which was peanut butter blossoms. Daddy taught the boys how to unwrap the Hershey kisses. We let the boys have an initial chocolate piece before they started their job but weren't sure that would be enough for them. Surprisingly, both boys listened well and didn't try to sample another one!

Both boys always love measuring, dumping, and stirring whenever we have a cooking project. They actually were quite helpful!

It's easy to see why people call this "the most wonderful time of the year." We've had a great time preparing our hearts for Jesus' birth and having an excuse to do special things as a family.