Happy Holidays!

Read a Christmas story before bed tonight.

Leo choose Mary Engelbreit's illustrated version of The Night Before Christmas and Clara choose Red Ranger Came Calling.

Go to Nifty Gifty this afternoon.

We did, and we are very glad we attended. Nifty Gifty is a few event at church. Kids are invited to spend the afternoon creating homemade gifts they can give over the holidays. For obvious reasons I can't go into much detail about what they made. I'll just say we came home with a bag full of goodies and had a lovely afternoon.

Say "happy birthday" to Auntie Dorothy!

We called her and left a message. I guess the birthday lady was busy celebrating.

Listen to music from the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky.

When I turned on Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Leo's eyes lit up and told me - I know this one, I heard it on my radio when I was going to sleep!

This year our countdown to Christmas will not involve little chocolates, Legos or any other daily gifts. Instead we'll be focusing on family activity, giving, and gratitude. I've challenged myself to create a list of 25 messages that will be left for Clara and Leo daily on the whiteboard in the living room. So today, on the 1st of December they were greeted with the following:

Dig out the advent calender and hang a string of Christmas lights.

Simple, to the point and according to the kids, a great start to our advent season :)