Merry, Merry

Merriest Christmas! In this crazy year, tomorrow will hopefully be a bright spot of family time and enjoyment.  Covid can't stop the Christmas spirit or celebrating Jesus' birth!

Snow Day

We were treated to a pre Christmas snow day this year!  We were all home for both days of the storm (where else would we be this year) and it was the first real snow that Tatum noticed as we didn't get any last year.  He woke up from a nap in time to play for a little bit when during the storm... 

Then we had a nice cozy family night by the fire, watching Christmas movies and indulging in grilled cheese and tomato soup.

The next day Tatum was begging to get back out in the snow to play and build a snowman.  It was a fun addition the season and great family time.

Weekend Before Christmas

What is usually such a busy weekend out doing activities, going to events and getting in last minute errands was very quiet this year but with some fun still squeezed in.  We had a full quiet night at home which I think has never happened the weekend before Christmas. We started off the weekend early with a small birthday dinner celebration with friends.

Friday we had a few errands like a drive by at Tatum's school and spent the night in - working the baby's nursery, baking cookies and relaxing on the couch.

Saturday we drove by the firehouse to see Santa and the firetrucks and also Santa came around on the firetruck that night in our neighborhood - such a highlight for a little boy!

Yesterday was my birthday and a very low key one at that - Tatum was very ready and excited to help me blow out the candles for a new year.

We also had some fun visits from Bernard over the weekend too... 

Christmas Crafts & Activities

With Tatum at home the entire month this year I decided to forgo daily learning activities and projects like we did in the spring when he was home and do something Christmas learning related or crafting most days - we both had fun with it.  All the printables or ideas (then I made my own) were found on Pinterest.

First up, tracing the gingerbread to the gingerbread house.

These were both fun for color learning - matching the colored ornaments to the correct column and also associating the color with the ornament on the other paper.

Other color learning and probably one of his favorite ones - I drew a big Christmas tree and colored ornaments then he matched the sticker to the ornament.

Another big hit was painting a plate green to make into the Grinch - he had so much fun painting then was very proud to see the result when I helped add the other supplies. While we had the green paint out we also did hand print Christmas trees then decorated them with stickers.

Each year we do a special canvas craft - this year we went with Santa and finger painted the lights on for a border.  Since Tatum wasn't going to be bringing any ornaments home from school this year, we made some of those ourselves too.

These simple print outs from Pinterest kept us occupied one morning of the snow days this week - putting shapes on the right spot on the tree, tracing lines and cutting.

Reindeer food was another big hit - I hope it's as big of a hit on Christmas Eve when we sprinkle it outside - I let Tatum make a second one to put on my parents lawn since we'll be over there on Christmas Eve too.

Elf on the Shelf

We've been having fun with our elf, Bernard, this year.  It's the first year that Tatum really gets a kick out of where he finds him and asks every morning to go down and see where "arnd" is.  Some nights we were lazy and he had simple spots, others I tried to treat it as an advent calendar and bring a small item or activity for the day.  My favorite this year was the donut stand from Etsy and our donut delivery - Tatum was so excited - and we all got to enjoy the donuts.