We were looking forward to flipping the calendar page over one more time on our 2018 calendar!!! The house is transformed from Fall into Christmas!!! This means the Christmas tree was cut, hauled home, lights strung on it and the ornaments are hung lightly on the thin pine branches!!!
For the first time, I bought a long rope of garland greens and strung it over the kitchen windows and dinning room windows. It gives such a warm touch inside the house!
Gifts were bought and are now wrapped up and put under the Christmas tree. Ashlyn just can't help herself but look and wonder and ask questions about the gifts!!! She wants to know all she can! :) But she's not getting any clues from me!!! Christmas Eve will have to be waited for and is anticipated!!!
I found these drawings on Pinterest and I love them so much!!! I have them pinned all over my boards! Look how cute they are!!!
December is always a busy month for our family!!! There are extra parties, extra goodies, extra vitamins taken, programs to attend, gifts to be bought and wrapped, cookies to bake and places to go!!! A key for me is to be ahead of the game if that's such a thing for this busy holiday but so far that's not been happening as much as I would like it to be! I'm still waiting for Christmas cards to arrive in the mail and our family newsletter is not written just yet. I'm waiting for that "time" to sit down and write it! It will happen one of these days! Having all the shopping done is still a dream but reality will happen soon for that too!!!
This December I had a few wishes that I wished would come true!!! And one of them just did!!! I love Christmas music and so going to a Christmas concert was on my list!!! Mike and I had never attended a concert together and so this was our first ever concert side by side. We drove to Reading to listen to the very loud concert of For King and Country!!! I only know a few of their songs and because it was so, so loud I wished they would have had the lyrics on a screen somewhere! I did enjoy the concert a lot but Mike is not a concert man. At all! It was WAY TOO LOUD for him and I even said to him at one point that if he wants to walk out, I won't be offended! But he stayed right beside me the entire time (well, except for when he bought some crab fries to eat)! The carols were beautiful!!! The Christmas Spirit and the message was really, really good!!! We now have some favorite songs to listen too!!!
While we were sitting at the concert, I got a text inviting our family to go along with the church youth group to see a live nativity in NJ! We were excited but then disappointed when it was all canceled because of the rain on Sunday night! Maybe, maybe it will get rescheduled and we can still go!
Instead, we visited my parents and spent the evening together at their house. Austin didn't have a nap and this was him on the way to my parents! He's so into this helmet thing right now! :)
Our puzzle is under way!!! It's taking some time but I love to do this at the end of the day and unwind!!!
Here's another favorite drawing that I liked from Heather!
It's true … I want to make time to create memories this holiday season!!! I can't wait for the next few weeks to spend time with those we love the most! To create lasting memories! To laugh and bless others!
I did do something fun with the two youngest on Saturday afternoon!!! Our little home town has a holiday treasure hunt every December. It's where there are a number of little shops that offer a riddle to be solved and then small gifts for the children!
We began at the Best Western and there we designed our treasure hunt bags!
We walked from place to place. Here we are at the E&A Candy shop!!! It's so pretty with all the fancy candies and tons of homemade fudge!!! They dip chocolates right here at the store! The kids got to choose a clear candy pop off the Christmas tree!
And of course we invited these boys to go with us!!! Matt and Lena pulled a wagon and toted with me and the kids to each place!
Here we are the Corner Coffee Shop! Their riddle was "I am not a vegetable but I am a bean. What am I?" Answer: Coffee bean! They gave free hot chocolates to the kids!!!
We were waiting for the rest of the crew to come out of this small shop. Meanwhile, Austin said they are 'mean guys'. Sigh!!! I really hope that one of these days he will play 'good guy'!!!!
Another stop was at the Kens Garden Greenhouse!!! Oh this place is beautiful and I just can't help but gaze and look around and breathe in deeply when I visit here!!! This time there was a craft for the kids to do but when I saw it was paint, I sighed!!! Really? But then I realized that it is washable and it was by far the funniest stop for the kids!!! Austin loved this craft!!! He slathered so much paint on his 'mean guy rock' and then painted it all over black when we got back home!
Ashlyn loved this craft to and her little Christmas Tree turned out really cute!
There was a train display at the greenhouse!
And, of course, we did some really quick greenhouse photos!!!
She so beautiful!!!
Thank you!!!
OK???
I laughed when I saw him do this without me telling him too!!! A big squeeze and a sweet kiss was perfect!!!
Aren't they just the cutest!!!!????!!!!!!
I love to do events like these with the kids!!! I must add that while we were out having some fun, the two oldest were back home doing chores! Our back yard firepit is getting a redo one of these weeks and so they were putting one paver on top of the other in the wagon. That is until the wagon wheel came fell off. They called it quits! :////
Happy December everyone!!! I hope this is a month filled to the very brim of sweet memories and tons belly laughs!!!
I am so blessed!!!
