Advent Box Activities

This year, we continued the tradition of opening Advent boxes every day throughout the season of Advent. This was the first thing Cody and Jaden wanted to do after waking up each morning.

Some days, the boys found candy in their Advent boxes. So exciting!

Other days, they found a note describing a special activity that our family would do that day.

Some of the activities were things we just did at home-- like watching the old Frosty the Snowman TV movie or building a fort together. Most of the events, however, were special Christmas happenings in our community that we attended. Now that we live in a much larger area, we had TONS of different Christmas celebrations to choose from during the month of December. We tried out quite a variety of events.

Holly Jolly Jingle

This event was a free musical concert at an outdoor theater (only Texas could pull off an outdoor concert at the beginning of December!). Once we arrived, we experienced our very first Texas snowfall.

This is apparently how they do snow down South... :)

We got to meet a few random Christmas characters and play some cheesy carnival-type games. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to ride the children's train, The Candy Cane Express.

The concert venue was absolutely beautiful! We sat on a grassy hill behind the stadium seats and bleachers so that Jaden and Cody could more freely move around a bit. The performances were given by the Sam Houston State University Symphony Orchestra and Choir. The Christmas music was so peaceful and pleasant-- the perfect thing to kick off a Christmas season. Between the orchestra and choir selections, they played clips from How the Grinch Stole Christmas (probably Jaden and Cody's favorite part). We only stayed for about a third of the actual concert because it was fairly late and we had a bit of a drive to get home. Because the event was completely free, though, we definitely considered it worthwhile!

One Night in Bethlehem

We remembered seeing this event on Matt and Kim's blog for several years, so we were very excited to get to experience it for ourselves. This church in their area has all kinds of activities to teach families about the culture and times of the original Bethlehem. Our favorite part by far was the camel and donkey rides out front. What a fun experience! Ryan, Ian, Nathan, and Kim showed our family how it was done first. :)

Daddy, Jaden, and Cody thoroughly enjoyed their first-ever camel ride.

Neither Jaden nor Cody had any reservations about hopping right onto this donkey. They were both full of smiles throughout the entire ride!

Inside the church, the boys got to talk with Mary and meet "baby Jesus."

Then, we got a plate of food samples from Bible times (olives, crackers, pomegranates, nuts, etc.). The mini-meal wasn't our boys' favorite, but they were willing to try a few new things.

It was fun to experience a meal on the floor!

The church also had a few stations (tents) set up for various games and crafts. Jaden and Cody played with a dreidel,

briefly pounded on some clay,

and made some tissue paper crosses.

At the end of the evening, the church had a short nativity reenactment, complete with a few Christmas carols. The church obviously put so much time into this event. We were quite impressed!

Baking Christmas Cookies

Jaden and Cody love being kitchen helpers whenever they can, but their absolute favorite is helping make desserts. They definitely share their Mommy and Daddy's sweet tooth! :) For this baking adventure, the boys tried their hand at cut-out sugar cookies.

The boys always carefully hit the eggs against the cup or bowl until they start to see any "gooey stuff," at which point they quickly hand off the egg to Mommy. :)

Maneuvering the rolling pin was a bit tough!

But selecting and using the cookie cutters was perfect!

We made Christmas shapes galore-- trees, stars, snowmen, holly, Santas, bells, reindeer, angels, and crosses.

Once the boys lost interest in the cookie cutting process, Daddy stepped in to help some too.

I forgot to take any pictures of our final, frosted cookies or of the joy of eating them, but that, of course, was the best part!

The Santa Train and Toy Drive

Jon and Chelsea invited our family to this fun event. Just Daddy, Jaden, and Cody went along since Mommy had a women's event at church. The boys had wonderful stories to tell me afterwards, though, so they obviously loved it! Apparently this local family owns a lot of land, so they just set up a train on their property each year and run this free community event. It's rather amazing!

The only price for admission is bringing in a new toy to be donated to a child in need. I'm sure they collect quite a lot by the day's end. This was their stash after just a few hours.

First, Jaden and Cody made some new animal friends at the petting zoo.

Then, they visited the nativity scene,

played some carnival games,

and finally got to ride on the train.

Halfway along the journey through the woods, the train stops and allows people to take pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Jaden was not at all happy about this arrangement. :)

At the end, Cody and Jaden enjoyed some tasty Christmas cookies...

...and made a Christmas nativity craft.

For some reason (maybe reflective of his mood that day??), Jaden insisted that his Mary and Joseph have a frowning face. You may be able to zoom in on this picture to get a better view of his unnatural looking nativity scene. :)

Thanks, Jon, Isaiah, and Chelsea, for accompanying our family that morning and for giving us the heads-up on this fun Christmas event! Aren't they a cute little family? :)

Breakfast in Bed

This activity was probably the one that Cody and Jaden talked about for the longest amount of time afterwards. They thought their very first breakfast in bed experience was just hilarious! We'll definitely have to repeat it sometime in the near future.

Movie Night and Popcorn

After Cody and Jaden opened their Advent box note on this morning, we surprised them with two new videos. The one they selected to watch that night was Curious George's Christmas. We made the night complete by bringing out the boys' tiger blanket & pillows, plus lemonade and popcorn. The hour-long movie was a perfect length for them!

Morning Donuts

Our mid-morning snack this day was a special treat-- frosted donuts!

Each boy ate exactly half (the top half!) of his donut. :)

Neighborhood Hayride

We are really growing to love our new neighborhood community! They love to celebrate holidays with special gatherings. We arrived early to play on the playground and chat with a few neighbors. Then, we took pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Jaden was obviously in a better mood this evening compared to his last Santa visit. :)

Then, we hopped on one of our neighbor's trailer-beds for a hayride (sorry the picture misses the hay completely!). As we drove along, the driver played Christmas carols, and everyone was encouraged to use the songbooks to sing along.

Partway into our hayride, we paused at one neighbor's home for some hot chocolate, juice boxes, and cookies. So cute!

Along the ride, the driver pointed out various homes in our neighborhood that were vying for the Kids' Choice Christmas Display award. At the end of the hayride, the kids voted on their favorite light display, and that neighbor won a free giftcard! Maybe we'll have to get more into the outdoor decorations next year. :)

German Festival

Our community has a lot of German roots, so twice a year it holds a German festival/market. It was much larger than we anticipated! The event felt like a state fair with tons of booths, food, and vendors. None of my pictures turned out very well since it was so dark outside, but you can get an idea of the activities we did. Cody and Jaden were a little intimidated by this tall German clown guy.

We bought enough tickets for the boys to try out just two rides. They weren't tall enough to ride a few of the rides, but they seemed happy enough with these two-- a tractor ride...

...and the carousel.

My personal favorite part of the event was getting to watch these German dancers from a local high school German club.

Our family enjoyed a bit of fair food while we watched the dancers. It was a great way to keep Cody and Jaden in their seats! :)

The dancers were wearing fun costumes and all seemed to know their routines well. Overall, it was an enjoyable night!

As you can tell, our family kept busy during the Christmas season! We loved trying out all kinds of new events in our new community. Most of all, though, we give thanks to our Savior Jesus for His birth and presence among us. He is the true reason that we celebrate at Christmastime!