It’s DECEMBER, it’s DECEMBER! I cannot believe how quickly it has come. To think that this time next month we will have a new little baby!!! Ps. pregnancy update—there’s no sign of baby yet, we’re banking on her coming late (as Kylie did) but either way, she has to come out eventually right….so no worries, we’re just soaking up these last days as a family of 3, and prepping the house and ourselves into welcoming this new little spirit into our home <3
Today I wanted to share some activities that I loved doing with Kylie last Christmas season. We tried to do one ‘Christmas’ related thing every day of December up until Christmas. Here are just a few, and you can follow my Instagram to see others that we’ll be trying out this year.
GINGERBREAD HOUSE MAKING- I remember when I was young, it was a family tradition to get together with other families and make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and a smorgasbord of candy. Nowadays you can buy a kit…seriously how lazy are we getting…Daniel and I actually decorated a gingerbread house when we first started dating….it is 10 times more fun with a toddler though. Kylie went crazy with the gumdrops on the roof and consumed about half the candy.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS- Often times the most affordable simple activities make the best memories. Me and my 7 siblings would load up in our 60s van every December and find the giant neighborhoods with the amazing Christmas light displays. Last year we went to this awesome neighborhood with Kylie where each street has a theme, and anytime someone moves from the neighborhood they leave the decorations behind so that the next residents can set them up each year.
CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN CHAIN-Make a chain out of strips of construction paper about 2 inch thick and 6 inch long, one for each day until Christmas. The kids tear one chain off each day. This helps your kiddos keep track visually of how many days are left until Christmas.
PLAY CHRISTMAS MUSIC & BAKE COOKIES-Last year me and Kylie were at home a loooooot. Because we only had one car that Daniel would drive to work. So we had to get creative with how we filled our days. What could have been the most restless stir crazy situation actually became one of the fondest times of my life. I would put on the Christmas tunes and we would bake cookies. I made sure to let Kylie help me and to let go of my ‘baking OCD’ and the way her eyes would light up tasting the dough or helping me stir made everything worth the messes.
DECORATE A DOOR-There are so many fun things you can do with a little construction paper and a door. You can make a Christmas tree (just cut out a bunch of green pieces of paper and shape them into a tree. Then some other colors and shapes for ornaments). Or a snowman (our favorite) This is perfect if your door is white. Just cut out a carrot nose, black eyes, a scarf, black buttons, voila! Or a Santa Clause or Elf are easy, I’ve seen a reindeer before too.
DIY WINTER GRIPPER SOCK-Take any regular socks, or some thick warm winter socks, and to make them safer for you and the kiddos to run around the house with (if any area of your home is tile, wood floor etc) some puffy paint. Just squeeze some puffy pain on the bottom of the socks. You can just do dots, or get creative with designs, pictures, writing…then you have socks that don’t slip and slide.
“YOUR LIFE IS ONLY AS HAPPY AS YOU MAKE IT”