Christmastime Preparations

Christmastime was once again upon us. There was much excitement in the air and so much to do to get ready for the big day. 

The Christmas tree went up slowly this year, spanning a week between start to finish. The big girls eagerly pitched in to help. They were trying their hardest to decorate the top of the tree and thought they had come up with the perfect solution...

But I disagreed so out came the step stools…

Rose and Kate did the majority of the work getting the ornaments onto the tree while Aria much preferred to pull them off and give them a good toss. 

The boys waited until the end to hang their obligatory ornaments.  

When the camera comes out to document our moments, I tend to get some extra goofy kiddos. They love to ham it up for a photo...

Owen finished up the tree by placing the star on the tippy top. It's not so much of a reach for him anymore.

Once again this year we bought an Advent Calendar from Delicious Food Delivered. Last year we chose the Minnesota version with goodies from all local Minnesota businesses. This year to switch things up, we went with the Wisconsin version. There was quite a bit of excitement opening it every day followed by sequels of delight from the kids when the goodie hiding within was candy and some disappointed sighs when it happened to be more adult tailored gifts like tea or coffee (although those were much appreciated by the grown-ups!)

The kids had been anxiously anticipating the arrival of our friendly elf, aptly named Elfy. He usually appears at our front door on December 1st, but was a bit delayed this year and didn't reach his destination until December 3rd which happened to be on a Saturday morning. Everyone (except Owen who's now too old for Elfy - sniff, sniff) gathered around to greet our visitor.

Shane carefully removed the letter that Elfy was holding, and with the help of Cole and Rose, read it to the kids. 

Every night Elfy would move to a new location and each morning the kids would have a blast finding him. There were a few times that Elfy was quite the trickster like when he hid inside the play house ball tube and no one could find him. That sneaky elf!

This year we attended a special holiday event in our town complete with breakfast, fun activities including crafts and balloon animals, PLUS a meet and greet with none other than Santa and Mrs. Claus! Rose and Kate were pretty certain that this "Santa" wasn't the REAL Santa, but just one of Santa's many helpers. But that didn't stop them from sharing with him their Christmas wish lists.

Afterwards, Rose and Kate patiently waited in a very long line to get their faces painted. They looked through a big book full of all their options and knew immediately which ones they wanted. Rose choose a princess design while Kate picked Santa Claus. They were too cute!

With the stockings hung and the tree decorated, the Nativity was all that was left to finish our Christmas decorating. The middle three kiddos took on the task, working together and taking turns to select one item at a time and to carefully place it near the stable. 

They were very proud of their display!

Now we are all set for the big day!