We’ve been enjoying all the fun that the holidays bring… I love having kids at all times of the year, but especially at Christmas.
We decorated the house and bought our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Incidentally, we get a real tree, and we only buy them the years we don’t go to Texas for Christmas (because we’ve found it nice to cut back a bit on decorating – and cost – when we’re spending most of the month traveling.) The years we go to Texas, we try to spend almost a week, to really get time with my family in addition to all the festivities around Christmas. On top of that, we have 3 family Christmases to celebrate in Nebraska/Iowa, plus do something with our little family (which usually is last on the priority list.) I always prefer to get to see my family of course. But I’m also relieved to have a calmer December when we’re not making the Texas trip. And it’s nice to have a Christmas tree. :)
Love my Willow Tree nativity (a gift from Luke and Grammie several years ago.)
And our Advent Wreath (which I forgot to buy candles for ahead of time…) And that’s one of my AWESOME Tabletop Truths placemats on display behind it.
Stockings hung by the chimney with care. Except we don’t have a chimney, so ours are hung by the bookshelf with care. :)
Tobin got to help put the star on top of the tree. Which he thought was a super fun idea, until he found himself being held out from a rickety ladder leaning precariously out over the tree.
The boys’ first Christmas gift every year is Christmas PJs. I give them the night we decorate the tree/house. Here’s this year’s set:
Tobin’s been wanting to make and decorate cookies for about a month now. I told him we could make leaf cookies (I have leaf cookie cutters) in November, but he had his heart set on gingerbread men, so we waited. Not that you can’t make gingerbread men in November… :)
I did manage to mix, cut out, and bake cookies without help(I’ve found that part of the process to be significantly more difficult with 3 year old hands.) I used this recipe, both for the cookies and frosting, and I LOVED it. I only baked half the dough, the other half is double wrapped in the freezer for another time (I’ve found a large batch doesn’t hold the boys’ attention – they get tired of decorating before we’re done. And I want to eat cookies all the time. So it’s nice if there are fewer cookies around!).
After mixing up the frosting I got out all of our sprinkles and decorations, and let the boys go to town.
I think you can really see both boys’ personalities (and age, I suppose!) in their decorating. Luke only got 4 or so decorated – because he meticulously places sprinkles, decorating the trees, putting stripes on the candy canes.
Tobin, on the other hand, dumped almost the entire bottle of colored sprinkles on his first cookie. From that point, I let him spread frosting on each cookie, then we dipped them in the giant pile of sprinkles on his plate. :)
Can you tell who decorated each cookie?
