Welcoming the Christmas Season

Goodness, it seems like the Thanksgiving weekend was gone in a flash and now we're getting ready for Christmas! Isn't that how it always is? I had so many fun things planned for Thanksgiving and we barely had time to do a few of them...there's always next year ;)

To sum up our Thanksgiving.........there was a LOT of eating, spending time with family, and THIS:


We have been super busy around here getting our house and our hearts ready for Christmas. December always seems to be such a fast-paced month so we decided to make an effort to slow down and remember the TRUE meaning of the season.

(slowing it down, resting on "Noah's Ark" a.k.a. the coffee table)

Last week we started our December calendar and decided to do a paper chain to keep track of the days as well. Each day we add the next color, Little Bear does the gluing and holds the link in place to dry. She's really excited that it's starting to get longer and longer!

Our "Songs for Saplings" Bible verse for the week was "He will take great delight in you." Zeph. 3:17. I let her do the coloring page all on her own while I was washing dishes and when I turned around, to my complete surprise, she had traced the capital and lowercase letter Ds all by herself!!! I was shocked and thrilled, to say the least!

It's really been a struggle lately to keep Tiny entertained while we do activities in the morning. She recently gave up her morning nap so we have altered the "plan" somewhat. (Meaning, I don't really do much "planning," things just happen when they happen!). I know it will be a learning process for me to make sure to have plenty of "activities" to keep Tiny busy while Big Sis and I do things at the table. It's pretty much impossible to do anything on the floor without a little monster stomping all over the things and trying to eat them ;) We love our little monster to pieces though and realize that one of these days (very shortly) she will be joining in and doing some of the same things as Sis.

Tiny adores the Fridge Phonics and loves to hear the ABC song over and over and over...so this is always a "go-to" item when I'm working with Little Bear.

Stirring dough for some homemade Christmas gifts...I am not telling what it is as some of you readers just *might* be receiving them ;)

Tiny joining in and patting out the dough...we ALL sure had fun making them!

Carisa (1+1+1=1 blog) has SOOOO many wonderful Christmas activities listed on her site! I headed on over to her blog and started printing things immediately! Here is the link to the Christmas Tot Pack. It is filled with WONDERFUL things...it was my "one-stop shopping experience" for most of our Christmas activities :) Of course I peeked around at some other sites she had linked up and found a few other things. I cannot express how thankful I am that there are MANY other mothers out there who do all the hard work and I just print and assemble...it's that easy. Why re-invent the wheel, right?

Working on a Happy Birthday Jesus puzzle (she's SO excited that Jesus' birthday is two days before hers!)

We played a counting game with these manger pictures and tiny little star cutouts I found on this site. She picked a card and then had to identify the numeral and count out that many stars. I don't know what it was about the tiny stars, but she was having so much fun just playing with them. The manger pictures have numerals 1-10 on them and my hope is to also use these to practice putting the numbers in order.

Coloring in the "What color is the present" booklet in the Christmas Tot Book we made. This little book is GREAT because it's very repetitive and the color word is actually in color so she can read it all by herself!

Here is a look at the whole Tot book...

And while we were working at the table.............
Tiny worked on her foam alphabet puzzle (she LOVES that thing and could play by herself for hours, well....at least 5 minutes give or take)

One of my favorite moments from the week.....
After working on separate activities all morning, I found both of them under the kitchen table sharing the Aquadoodle :D

I had looked all around for an advent calendar of some kind to do with the girls, but couldn't find anything I loved that was relatively inexpensive. So I came across a website that explained the Jesse Tree and I was hooked instantly (especially because I could download, print out and laminate the ornaments and use a small tree we already had here--all at a VERY minimal price). We add a new ornament each night and read the reflection verse and the meaning of each ornament. Although some of the readings have been over Little Bear's head, it has been a memorable experience to set aside this time together and read God's Word as a family. I hope to have some pictures of our Jesse Tree to add here soon!

Enjoy the blessings of the Christmas Season!!!