Advent Week 1

The season of Advent is upon us and I am shame-facedly confessing that I prepared nothing to guide my children or myself or my family through this season.  No preschool devotion books.  No countdown to Christmas chain.  No elf on a shelf.  It's taking all my energy and focus (and then some) to keep all the balls I'm juggling up in the air, then we add in Christmas.  But I'm not complaining because we are still enjoying and commemorating the season in little ways.  Little B is understanding everything in a whole new way this year and his joy is amazing to behold.  So I'm going to do my best to share something about each day this season because these boys are growing and there will never be another Christmas quite like this one...

November 30: We bought our Christmas tree today.  Hubby T thought this needed to be a family decision so we took turns chasing Baby P away from the major road that is right next to the church where we buy our tree while trying to pick out a tree.  Yup, 17 months is fun!

December 1: Tonight we lit the first candle in our Advent wreath and tried to explain to Little B that it is the candle of hope...

Me: What's something you hope for Little B?
Little B: That I get everyone on my list from Santa!
Me (thinking): Hmm, maybe I should have spent more time finding a preschool-level Advent devotional...

December 2: Little B asked to make Christmas cookies today and I, much to my dismay, had to say no because I didn't have time.  Instead, I came up with the oh-so-brilliant idea of taking his gluten-free Joe-Joe cookies (Trader Joe oreos), slicing them in half and giving him sprinkles to "decorate" his cookie.  He was thrilled and I was no longer a disappointing mommy, win-win:)

December 3: So apparently I bought Elf on a Shelf last year and completely forgot I had it until we unpacked Christmas things this year.  We're not making a big deal out of it at all, we just call him Elf, and Baby P is in love, which he expresses alternately by hugging Elf and forcefully throwing him across the room!

December 4: Little B's preschool sent home a song book with lyrics to the Christmas songs the kids are learning for their Christmas party in a couple weeks.  I am taking every opportunity I can to sing those songs so that Little B will learn the words and get comfortable with the songs.  His favorite song coming into this season was Jingle Bells, but Rudolph is quickly rising in his estimation;)

December 5: Last weekend I told Little B that he could stay up and have a movie night with us.  I turned on the Frosty movie that is on Netflix, which is different from the original but I kept expecting the story to turn out fundamentally the same.  It doesn't.  The version on Netflix stinks.  Even Little B thought so, without having any knowledge of the original.  I think we'll watch Polar Express next.  We've been listening to the soundtrack, which Little B tolerates, so I have much higher hopes for that movie night:) 

December 6: Christmas came early today with the visit of Hubby T's parents, grandparents and aunt and uncle, who brought some early presents.  The Hess truck for this year was a humongous hit!  If you are still looking for a gift idea for your three or four year old, go buy the Hess truck and your child will love you forever.

We're already down to two full weeks before Christmas, stay tuned for more Family P celebrations!