MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE, EVE!
Hi Friends! Much like you, I'm sure, I've been readying my home for guests and putting together last minute gifts and prepping food. Our family has been on a winter break from doing formal homeschooling lessons since the beginning of last week, and kids have been helping out more around our property taking care of our chickens, cooking, baking, shopping and wrapping gifts! We've also been crafting up a storm!
As I think I've mentioned before, we are hosting Christmas Day this year - as we have for the past few years; however this year we are expecting more people than usual so we've had to get a bit creative with our furniture to make enough dining space! Now that our dining room has been converted into a homeschooling room, I've had to empty out a few things to turn it back into a "dining room". Yesterday I noticed the room seriously lacking "Christmas vibes" so today I'll (hopefully!) be making some fresh garland with clippings from our trees out on the property to drape over the windows. Anyone else notice what a drastic and amazing difference just a little garland makes??!
My girls made this simple wreath with their babysitter last week for their bedroom door - just greenery and some little crochet-ed pieces. She is helping them learn how to crochet, which I am grateful for since I don't know how! Isn't this wreath so sweet?!
Christmas Cookie Decorating Party & Movie Night
This past week we hosted a Cookie Decorating Party & Movie Night for my kids friends. The kids had a blast and we did a "Cute Sweater Cookie Contest" - a spin off the popular "Ugly Christmas Sweater" tradition. I didn't really want the kids making ugly cookies, so "cute" seemed much better! While kids watched Home Alone 1 in our attic, I sent out a picture of the entries to friends and family for voting and at the end of the evening we gave out small prizes to our first and second place winners!
It's never too late to host a cookie decorating party! This is something fun you could do anytime in the winter months! You could even start thinking about Valentine's Day! Be sure to use our gluten-free, no-chill,
Ultimate Fool-Proof Sugar Cookie Recipe!
Speaking of contests, I'm so proud of my oldest daughter for winning our town's newspaper Wrapping Paper Contest this year! She worked so hard, and it's exciting to see her hard work pay off. What a great life lesson for her to learn! See her design below!
For the past few years I've started a tradition of taking each kid out on a one-on-one Christmas shopping date! It helps each child to have that connection time with me, and to be able to pick out some special secretive things for other family members. We usually stop at our local cafe and grab a hot chocolate and treat while we walk around. For this and other Simple, Joy-Filled Christmas Family Traditions, click below!
Christmas Movie Night
Last night we rented the movie based off of the classic book, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"! My kids had already seen it in the theaters weeks ago when it first came out, but I had to stay home with the baby so I was sad to miss it. I couldn't wait to finally see it last night! We invited my parents over to watch it with us. It was HILARIOUS and super sweet. We all loved it. I definitely cried at the end! Highly recommend!!! The perfect movie to watch right before Christmas!
Christmas Baking
Yesterday the girls and I baked some Gingerbread cookies, and today we'll dip them in some dark chocolate! They came out SO good! Believe it or not, I've never made gingerbread cookies before so I'm pretty excited! We used this recipe from Treehouse Schoolhouse!
