The Christmas Season

The Christmas Season has begun!!! These next few weeks are my absolute favorite time of  year. I love Thanksgiving, Black Friday (only on Friday), and the holiday traditions that we leading up to Christmas. See what we have done so far already this season...

The event that we are still working on is putting in hard wood floors throughout pretty much the whole house. It is a slow process but Matt is doing a wonderful job. This isn't the most current picture, but it gives you an idea of what the hard wood looks like. The kitchen is pretty much finished, so on to the hallway now. 

After shopping on Black Friday, we bundled the kiddos up and went down to see the Plaza lights. We stopped at Latte Land, which is now Kaldi's to enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies. Below are the children blowing kisses. 

Saturday night we had some dear friends over and they helped us decorate our Christmas tree. Please excuse the sub flooring...we haven't gotten to the living room yet!

 Monday night was a continuation of a tradition that was started a few years back with friends...Christmas Movie Night! We meet up every Monday between Thanksgiving and Christmas to enjoy a meal together and a Christmas movie. There are 9 kids age 8 and under. So it is completely crazy but such a good time. This past Monday we watched Elf and had Chicken Noodle Soup. I didn't take any pictures...so hopefully next Monday I will remember to take some. 

Below is what I have been working on for a new family tradition. It is a Countdown Christmas Calendar or an Advent Calendar. I couldn't find one I liked to buy so I just made one! Gotta love Pintrest! Each ornament has a pocket that contains a slip of paper for a family activity. These range from looking at lights, Christmas movie night, coloring Christmas pages, to setting up our nativity scene. There are some more detailed activities and others that take no prep time or very little time. I arranged the slips of paper according to our calendar so if we have something going on one evening, the activity is smaller. 

I am hoping it is a hit this Christmas season! 

I hope everyone has a very special holiday and gets lots of family time to enjoy.