A Dog for Christmas??

Boy would our kids of been exited if we actually bought them a dog for Christmas!

That was NOT what we did.

The next best thing....dog sitting the week of Christmas!

Aunt Missy's friend was in need of a dog sitter for Zeus.

And Brian shocked us all and agreed to do it!

(He has been adamantly against dogs in our house for years!)

The kids had a blast.

And I think Zeus did too.

Tons of walks, playing, snuggling, etc.

They actually said they didn't care what was under the Christmas tree....having Zeus there already made it the best Christmas ever!

(This is when I should of made some returns...hehehe)

Zeus was a good sport, and played the part of the reindeer on Christmas Eve....

Despite having said that watching Zeus was 'all the Christmas they needed', they were still pretty excited come Christmas morning!

Hayden and Madelyn patiently waiting upstairs for everyone to be ready to come down.

Then they were let loose.....

We had a fun morning, and Aunt Missy and Matt came and shared it with us.

Christmas morning is going to be so quiet when there are no longer kids in the house.

Thankfully that is still YEARS away!!

 

And Santa heard that Zeus was at our house, and brought him a bone.

Such a good dog he is!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Holiday Traditions....

I was feeling a little overwhelmed with traditions this year.

It felt like there was so much to do, and at times the 'traditions' felt like just one more thing to squeeze into the schedule! I really hated feeling like that.  I was trying to figure out if it was because Thanksgiving was late this year, or because I'm homeschooling (and have more going on), or because we just have too many 'must do' traditions!

So, this year I let a lot go. 

This is huge for me!

We didn't do EVERYTHING we usually do, but had a fun time with the things we DID do!

Also, I didn't 'document' everything.

(Which means I took a lot less photos)

Here's a bit of what we did....

For Thanksgiving every year we normally have a 'Thankful Box'. In that box we put slip of paper with things we are thankful for on them. This year we made a 'Thankful Tree', and added 'leaves' throughout the month of November. 

This was fun.

We usually try to do a Family Service Project during the holiday season.

This year we put together two Christmas Boxes.

We did a Boy age 2-4, and a Girl age 5-9 box.

They have a barcode, and you can register to 'Follow Your Box', and find out where it ended up.

Ours made it to the Philippines. 

The kids loved knowing this, especially after seeing the destruction from the typhoon, they liked knowing that a child who might of lost everything got a little something nice in the box.

 

We didn't miss the tradition mailing of a letter to Santa, and sitting on his lap!

The girls didn't miss it at least...the boys weren't so interested.

Snowy day activities....

Snowflake making.

There was a German Christmas market in Baltimore this year, and we went to check it out.

We enjoyed some bratwurst and Christmas trinkets.

Silly kids.

The girls and I went out to lunch, and then to see the Nutcracker Ballet.

This is something we've been doing since Morgan was 3 (11 years now), and I enjoy it so much!

I had no patience for gingerbread houses this year.

There always seems to be tears. Someones house is always collapsing, or they can't get it 'just' right.

So, we decorated 'Christmas Trees' instead (upside down ice cream cones).

We had some friends over to join in the fun that night too!

 

Oh the sugar rush!

 

Another thing we love to do is to drive around the neighborhood all dressed in our pj's, with our robes and slippers on. We play Christmas music and look at all the beautifully decorated homes!

And the above photos are from just one mans home!

It's a favorite of ours, and he doesn't disappoint!

The model train village at the Fire Station.

They have a list of 25-30 items to 'find' in the display. Duncan LOVES this part.

So does Brian actually.

We also enjoyed lots of our favorite holiday movies and books during the month of December, singing Christmas Carols at a Nursing home, baking lots of cookies, and 'Caning' friends.

Doing secret acts of kindness, and learning about the baby Jesus.

When I look back on the month, I realize we did do a lot, and the things we didn't do were ok to fall off the plate. Sometimes less is more. :)