As I mentioned in a previous post, I wrap all our Christmas books and the kids open 1-2 each evening. Every year I buy 2 more so our stash is getting pretty big!
This year we started a new tradition. I first heard of this tradition last year but decided this year that we'd take the plunge. One day after Thanksgiving we were all just hanging out when we heard the doorbell ring. We went to see who it was and to our shock and amazement it was a small elf and a book. (We had told the kids that there was such an elf that comes to houses a short while ago so they knew the back story.) The kids were really excited and decided to name him Tom. The idea is that Tom would be in our house during the day & observe whether they were being naughty or nice. And then every night he flies off to the North Pole and reports to Santa. Isabella was totally into it and really made an effort. Jackson, on the other hand, didn't really hesitate when it came to being naughty. ;o) Ah well... maybe next year. Anyway, it was a fun bit of excitement for us every day as the kids ran out to find out where Tom was hiding. He left a really nice letter when he left (will share in another post) and we look forward to having him back again next year! Here are some of the pictures I took of him: 
As you saw in the previous post, we do the activity advent calendar and this will be the second year that we've done it this way (the first year when I made the calendar we did small toys for Isabella. But that was very difficult to find small toys to fit in the small tins w/o being redundant!) and it's a lot of fun. Pictured below are some of the things that were in the calendar.
*One day the activity was a "special bath" which was them taking a bubble bath with glow sticks. This was really cool to see in the dark! Unfortunately Jackson kept saying, "I can't see! I can't see!" so the lights didn't stay off for too long. ;o)
*One day was a winter craft and we decided to make a bird feeder out of an old milk carton to feed the birds for winter. (Unfortunately we don't get too many birds in our neighborhood so I don't think it's been used much. Our highlight was 3-4 crows in the yard one day.)
*Another day the activity was to make a gingerbread house. The kids love doing this even though I swear I do most of the work. I am certain they love it only for the fact that they can eat some of the candy.
*And on a related activity, we made sugar cookies together and then decorated them with my MOMS Club group. The kids love both the making of the sugar cookies (picking out which cutters to use & making all the shapes) & the decorating where the philosophy is- the more sprinkles, the better! Jackson wasn't quite up to speed on the whole cookie decorating procedure. After he told me what cookie he wanted (I'm pretty sure I asked him what cookie he wanted "to decorate") I placed it on his tray & then went looking around the table for the frosting color he wanted. I turn around and he is eating a big mouthful and his cookie has vanished. Turns out, he thought it was put there for him to eat. So we do this whole bit again... and once again as I turn, he shoves the whole cookie in his mouth. I thought we'd had an understanding... but apparently not!! So finally, I got him everything at once & made sure the cookie was decorated... and then eaten... and that he did not have any more cookies for a week. Or for that day. ;o)
Christmas traditions to be continued...
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