Picture Perfect ... Almost!

Thank you Target for today's countdown activity!  I picked up these cute sticker banners from the dollar section a couple of week's ago.  The kids had fun putting on the various stickers to make Santa, snowman, upside down elf, penguin, Christmas tree, and reindeer!  Neither made the banner look like the picture.  D was especially proud of adding a bow to the reindeer to make it a girl.  S loved that the elf was hanging upside down!  The banners came out cute and are hanging on our dining room windows.

Over the years we've learned the hard way, we can't keep any live trees or wreaths in our house.  They look pretty and everyone enjoys smelling them.  But they also cause B, D, and S to cough and sneeze terribly!  So now we have an artificial tree that is just as pretty as a real one.  And we made some wreaths to hang around out of paper plates and torn construction paper.  

The kids alternate who flips over the activity of the day.  D chose the odd numbers and S got the evens.  That meant that today was S's day to turn over our countdown activity.  Of course he can't read so we asked D to read it to him.  She looked at the paper and said "Santa Train?!?!"  It took S a minute to understand what she said.  When he did get it he hugged himself, jumped up and down, and squealed with delight!   When we got on the train both kids were in awe, especially S.  They stared out the windows as we rode 30 minutes out and 30 minutes back.  They sang with the carolers onboard and said "Merry Christmas" to everyone they saw.  The highlight was a quick visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. This is a truly magical event that I'm beyond thankful to be able to share with the kids and B!

Tonight we visited Santa!  I love the magic that surrounds Santa Claus and the twinkle in the kids' eyes as they see him.  

Thursdays are a challenge to get anything done after school!  I pick D up at 3:40 and we have to leave at 4:15 for CCD.  That leaves very little time to do anything else.  Our countdown activity was a quick one to accommodate this crazy schedule.  The kids pulled out the Magna blocks and some jingle bells to create items for Santa. S made a rocket sled that Santa could ride on or inside of. D made Santa's Naughty and Nice list along with a box to keep names in.

Another day, another craft!  This time we made a garland of lights to hang on our kitchen shelf. We used markers,  dot painters,  and stickers to decorate the lights. It was a Christmas miracle the kids didn't fight over any of the materials! As a bonus the garland turned out very cute!

No craft for today's countdown activity.  The kids were a bit disappointed at first but soon got into the activity - a memory game .  I found the game on Pinterest and it's a cute, simple, fun game to play around Christmas time.  Just print out the cards, cut them out, and place them upside down on any flat surface.  A word of caution .... print them on heavy card stock, not on regular printer painter.  If you use regular paper the kids can (and will) see through them, making the game very quick!