Tis the season... To be busy!

Emery just loves Santa.

This year I made three different advent calendars. Technically, I made three of one type, so that brings the grand total in at five calendars, although we only are using two. We have an Advent block system that counts down the number of days (I'll put it on a subsequent craft post) and an Advent box with a daily activity that prepares us for Christmas. And boy have there been a lot of activities! Alastair wakes up excited every day to see what his Advent activity will be for the day. Some of the things we've been up to:

Buying presents for children whose families need a little help this year
Baking cookies
Curling up with our official Christmas blanket for Christmas movies
Making room for new toys
Spending an evening in "old Bethlehem"
Checking out the Christmas lights
Going caroling
Seeing the fabulous Kids Crazy Christmas Show at Second Baptist
Building candy churches at church
Meeting Santa
Multiple parties
Multiple playdates

Next year I think there will be a few more lollipops in the advent envelopes! I'm excited at the thought that Emery will be an active participant in the elation of Advent by next Christmas. Some of our outings:

Making "Candy Churches" the weekend after Thanksgiving.

The finished product, complete with marshmallow cross/steeple.


My little elves hard at work decorating the tree.


Learning how bread is made from grain at "An Evening in Old Bethlehem."


Checking out a real (and very patient) camel.


Alastair's keepsake present. We never get tired of hand prints.



And for your viewing pleasure, Alastair at his class mini-pageant.

He is on the far right. While he loves to perform at home, he tends to abstain from singing in a group, instead just smiling and looking around. I'm betting $20 that someone told him if he wasn't going to sing, he had to at least move his mouth. Priceless.

Caroling with the neighbors. This is an appallingly bad picture, however it shows the trailer outfitted with tons of Christmas lights that we were all sitting in on hay bales driving around the neighborhood and caroling. Alastair was in ecstasy: a hayride, Christmas lights, and rowdy older boys to admire. There is a golf cart that we picked up along the way driving behind us.


And in really big news:

Ta-Da indeed!