It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our Christmas season celebrations started on December 1st as we welcomed our friendly elf visitor back to our home.  Elfy the elf arrives every year on the first day of December bearing a letter from Santa.  Owen had been anxiously awaiting his arrival for several weeks and woke up bright and early to greet his pal Elfy.  Owen gently took Santa's letter from Elfy and read it out loud to Cole. They were both quite intrigued to see what Santa had to say.  While all this excitement was happening downstairs, our sleeping beauty Rose was still snoozing away.  She loves sleeping in and is always sound asleep when her big brothers go off to school each morning.  And there was no way the boys would be willing to wait until after school to partake in the start of our Christmas festivities. They were both far too excited!

Elfy is back!

Owen getting Santa's letter from Elfy

Cole, Owen & William reading Santa's letter

Along with the arrival of our little elf friend, December 1st marks the beginning of the Christmas Chest - a tradition that Great Nana Dineen and Aunt Donna started a few years back for the kids.  The Christmas Chest is filled with small bags marked for each day in December containing fun little goodies for the kids. The boys eagerly opened the chest to see what their first gift would be.

Throughout the month of December, the kids loved opening the chest each day to discover what fun item was hiding inside.  They were supposed to take turns each day opening the chest (although it seems like Owen had a few extra turns).  And boy was it a big deal to find out whose turn it was! They loved being the one to open up the special gift inside.

Another favorite December activity was searching the house for our playful elf who loves to move around each day playing hide-n-seek with the kids.  Owen placed some doll-sized furniture around the house so that Elfy could find a comfy place to sit.  He would leave little notes for Elfy, asking him questions like: What do you want for Christmas? and What do you want your name to be?  And each morning, he'd wake up to see Elfy's response to his inquiries.

One afternoon, the boys got home from school to find Elfy all tangled up in a paper chain - he was hanging upside down and had lost his hat! Uh-oh!!

Owen had to go to the drawing board to figure out just what happened.  He sure has an amazing imagination!  His theory went something like this:

• Phase 1: Elfy sees the paper chain and thinks, "Hey, maybe I can climb up it!"
• Phase 2: Elfy attempts to climb up the chain.
• Phase 3: Mom gets home unexpectedly and Elfy falls without anyone noticing.
• Phase 4: Elfy hangs upside down and his hat falls into the vase.
• Phase 5: Owen sees Elfy and thinks "What the??"

The kids had been waiting for weeks for the snow to come, and in early December their wish for a white Christmas came true - our grass was finally covered in a blanket of snow.  Everyone bundled up to help shovel and play.  They were sure good little helpers!

December 7th arrived marking El Dia de las Velitas (The Day of the Little Candles), a Colombian Holiday celebrated on the Eve of the Immaculate Conception.  The kids went to work designing beautiful works of art for their paper lanterns.

Their lanterns glowed brightly from our window sill.

Afterwards it was time to celebrate with hot chocolate!  ¡Feliz Día de Las Velitas!

On December 10th, we finally got around to putting up the tree - somehow we missed doing it over Thanksgiving break.  And with Christmas only a couple weeks away, it was now or never!  Everyone pitched in to get the tree up and decorated with Owen leading the charge.

During most of the decorating, Cole entertained everyone with his vocals and dance moves.  He sure loves Christmas carols!

Owen made sure all the ornaments were properly spaced so that the tree looked perfect.  He even insisted on putting the star on top.

The kids did a great job decorating the tree.  Of course with a toddler and three mischievous cats, it didn't take long for them to wreak havoc on our poor Christmas tree.

The next day we set up the Nativity.  Owen very carefully placed each statue and watched with a bit of anxiety as Cole and Rose took their turns (they aren't quite as gentle as their big brother!)

After Cole and Rose were done helping with the Nativity, Owen rearranged the entire scene.  He's a bit of a perfectionist.

There were so many exciting things to play with throughout the month - from the Advent Calendar to interactive ornaments to fun Christmas decorations.  We all enjoyed getting into the spirit of Christmas.

It sure is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!