Christmas – These Jonesys

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. Everything about it. This year was no different. This Christmas was a little bittersweet for us, but without going into details we still had a great Christmas. I know our oldest’s days of believing in Santa are numbered especially when there are kids at school who don’t believe, and make every point they can to prove their case. I can’t begin to describe are aggravating that is to me. He fully believes and and wants to believe and the fact that most his friends still do has him holding on to that hope. That Santa. Is. Real. Like, for real. And I’m sorry, but how can he not believe, when Santa brought him a Nintendo 3DS for Christmas. He knows for a fact that is parents would never buy it (wink).

Our little girl is still about all things Disney princesses. Everything about Christmas is magical to her. She loves singing along to every Christmas song on the radio and she’s got a pretty good bravada if I do say so myself. Her FROZEN dolls and tea set from Santa were a huge hit this year.

An then there’s the youngest…This kid is hilarious. He’s picked up how to unwrap gifts from his older siblings and he’s a quick learner. Every time he’d unwrap something he’d go “Whoa..whoa..” and then he’d move on to the next gift. He received a roller coaster. I’ll never forget that smile or the “WEEEEEEE” and he would ride it down the track. He loved his Disney World toy and a race track from Neema.

Christmas Eve they each always open one gift. It’s really just to hold them off till the morning, but I’ve made it a tradition to get them each new Christmas jammies and a book to read on Christmas Eve.

It’s bittersweet that the oldest can now read the Christmas Eve stories to the little ones. I can’t believe this was our 9th Christmas with him. I remember his first like it was yesterday.

What do you mean I can’t have one??

See you in the morning…Merry Christmas Eve:)

I love Christmas! Love, love, love, love, love Christmas! The music, the baking, Santa…all that good stuff. This year I wanted to try something different and decided to make an advent calendar for the kids. The only advent calendar we ever had as kids were the little boxes with the windows that you opened and got chocolate out of. In true Kristin fashion, I decided on 3pm on December 1st, that yes, I was going to make an advent calendar. I headed out to Target to grab a couple of supplies since I had most everything at home that I was going to use. While I was wandering around in the holiday section, I stumbled upon the Christmas trees. I thought how fun would it be to surprise the kids and get them their very own Christmas trees and decorations for their rooms? SO FUN!! So I gathered what I needed and headed home to get to work on the Advent Calendar. I Incorporated the trees in the calendar so the note that they read in the bag for Day #1 was, “There is a surprise in your rooms!” (to find out what was in the rest of the treat bags keep reading). The excitement on their little faces were almost too cute to bear, and luckily I had the video camera rolling to capture there reactions. When they opened their doors and saw their very own trees all lit up, they were a little speechless at first. And then it happened. My darling 7 year boy, started yelling, “YES! YES! THIS IS WHAT I’VE ALWAYS WANTED! MY DREAM COME TRUE!” He had been asking me for the last couple of years to decorate his room with lights and we just never got around to it. If I would have known that he would have been this excited, I would have done this in years past. The emotion in his eyes and face were something I will never so real and sincere, it nearly brought me to tears. He was bursting with happiness like I’ve never seen from him, and it was one of those mommy moments for me that I will never forget! (also because I video taped it). I hope this is one of those childhood memories that he remembers forever as one of his favorites when he is grown because it sure was one of mine. Sam was also thrilled to pieces, but the best part about it was that when it came time to decorate, Tanner dragged his tree into his sisters’ room so they could decorate them together. It was so fun, and they’re so excited to be able to get their very own trees out every year now and add to them. Pics of this below…

My DIY Advent Calendar

I’ve had a few questions about our advent calendar, the most common one being, “What’s in the bags?” So, here’s how I made mine. I scoured the Internet and Pinterest for all things Advent Calendars. I was late in getting started on mine since it was Dec. 1, so I needed something quick, simple and cost effective. I decided on hanging paper bags with goodies in them on our little chalkboard wall that is between the kitchen and the mudroom/garage door.

Supplies:

Twine
Laundry clips
paper bags
whatever is going in the bags
hammer/nails

This project to me about an hour from start to finish and here is the process…

First, I drew out the month of December on paper and filled in every day with what was going in each bag, so I didn’t double up on something or forget something. Once I was satisfied, I cut little squares out of scrapbook paper so I could write little notes on them. I gathered all my goodies and started filling bags. Of course I could have made them cuter, but I didn’t have time.

Of course we have to make them perfectly level…

Scary Photo Bomber!

TA-DA!!

Examples of goodies I put in the bag: Halloween candy, candy canes, animal crackers, fruit snacks, unopened Pez dispensers they got last year for Christmas, a couple of crafts from the $1 bin, stickers.
I tried to use what I had at home already and only picked up a couple of cheap goodies at the store for fillers.

Some examples of what I put in bags without treats; mostly they were notes for doing a Xmas craft, doing something as a family or doing something for someone else. Here are a few examples of what ours say.

– write letters to Santa
– make snowflakes to hang around the house
– watch Sound of Music as a family, ~~and clap as mom sings along to all the songs~~
– go on a carriage ride
– gather unused toys and things and donate
– pass out teacher gifts
– bake cookies and hand out to neighbors (with a note clearly stating, ” EAT AT YOUR OWN RISK. MADE BY LITTLE PEOPLE”
– watch Polar Express
– Drive around and look at lights
– sleep under the Xmas tree (this one may be a big hit. It will probably turn into, “hang out under the Xmas tree until mom and dad decide it’s time to sleep in our own beds,” in which case there will most likely be tears).
– make Xmas ornaments
– make Xmas cards and send out to family and friends
– (Xmas Eve) open 1 gift, our tradition

So, that’s it! Simple and quick! Also, pleased that our Advent calendar doubles as a place to hang holiday cards, since I don’t currently have a specific place for them it is perfect!!