December Festivities

Posted by Rebecca January 30, 2014

December Festivities

In December we had a fun (and busy) time getting ready for Christmas. Since our boys are little, we are still experimenting a bit to see what traditions are the best ones for our family. This year we tried to do some Advent worship on several occasions. Jimmy got out his guitar, and the boys played instruments and danced around. We mainly sang "Silent Night," "Go, Tell It On the Mountain," and "Jingle Bells." We made it through several of the Jesse Tree devotionals, but not many. Maybe next year!

My man playin' that guitar for the first time in quite a while. It's been too long!

Playing the sticks (a.k.a., my salad tongs).

Playing Jimmy's tiny bongo drum that he's had since college.

Playing the bells.

Using the salad tongs to play the drum.

Dancing during another night of Advent worship. Fun times! (and a bit chaotic, but that's okay!)

We lucked up and got this picture the same night as the one above. This was our Christmas card picture, and I just love it!!! And though it does take a lot of work, I love that during this season of the year people take the time to send Christmas greetings through snail mail! Charlie is STILL asking if we can check the mailbox for Christmas cards! I enjoy both sending out cards and receiving them.

Charlie having fun with the Little People advent calendar Granana got us.

Henry with that goofy dancing snowman that makes his way back to our house every year!

Charlie helped Granana decorate her Wake Forest tree one day.

Mom and Dad came to church the morning we lit the Advent candle. The boys were excited to see them, as always!

I also had my friend Leneve over a couple times for tea in December. She is a sweet friend from work, and I've really enjoyed the time I've spent with her. We had Lady Grey tea, mandarin oranges, and her amazing pear bread one afternoon.

We celebrated St. Nicholas day (12/6) a day late (the 7th), but the boys didn't mind! They enjoyed waking up to candy and raisins in their shoes! We talked to them about St. Nicholas and let them watch the Veggie Tales movie about him. It was a fun tradition that I think we'll keep!

This boy has a major sweet tooth- can you tell?!

This is our neighbor's f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c. gingerbread lighthouse that they entered into the housing contest. I was amazed!!

Look at the footprints in the snow!!! All the detail... it was so intricately made. We enjoyed going up to the housing office one afternoon to see all the gingerbread house entries. It never ceases to amaze me how people are so creative and talented.

They inspired us to make our own gingerbread house! (A kit, mind you.) Also a fun tradition I would like to do with the kids in years to come!

Working together

My pretty mama rolling out the fondant.

Henry wanted to eat most of his share of candy, rather than put it on the house!

Icing our house and putting candies on it!

Concentration.

Mmmm! Finger-lickin' good! (And check out the icing on his cheeks!)

Putting on the finishing touches.

Happy and proud of his gingerbread house! The gingerbread man was Charlie's touch- he felt that it really was necessary to put a cookie man outside. I think he's right- Mr. Gingerbread Man looks great! (The boys really liked eating those cookies when I bought them during the holidays.)

Ta-daaaaa!

We went with our neighbors to the "Walk Through Bethlehem" at the Presbyterian Church one Saturday night. We all had Papa Murphy's pizza at our house for dinner, then we bundled up for the journey to Bethlehem! I was excited about taking Charlie since he was very into the nativity story (all year long). He seemed to like it!

The kids got to color pictures and have some cookies before we went outside for the Walk.

Yum!

The manger scene at the end of the Bethlehem walk.

Jimmy and I had a daytime date one Saturday in December. We went to LaForesta for a delicious lunch and then to stroll around downtown. I wanted to take a carriage ride since they were offering them that day, and we ran into Mom and Dad! They took a couple pictures of us.