Part 3 of 4: Christmas Countdown

Of course the last of the packages has long since been opened, and much of our Christmas hub-ub is over.  

 But we need to finish what we started.

I've started documenting our Christmas countdown:

Check out Days 1-7 for a pink playdough baby Jesus

and Days 8-14, including our sweet Cbug as the star of the nativity scene.

AND NOW...

Days 15-19

Day 15 (10 Sleeps until Christmas)
Make a handprint Santa
This is one of the ideas I found online.  Here is the link to the original project.  I adapted a couple of things slightly so that I would not have to do any prep ahead of time and we could just use what we had on hand.
The steps (left to right, top then bottom) were 1st: make a white handprint, 2nd: use thumbprints and fingerprints for the nose and rosey cheeks, 3rd: Glue on some eyes cut out of paper, 4th: Cut out Santa's red hat and attach, 5th: add cotton balls to the hat and 6th: draw a black nose.

 And then TAH-DAH Santas...

Day 16 (9 sleeps until Christmas)
Mail a Christmas card to someone
While there were some days that we waited until the next afternoon to finish our projects, this was the only day that never got completed at all.  I personally mailed our Christmas cards to friends and family, but the kids never actually mailed a card to anyone.  No excuse either because I intentionally made the Santa handprints (Day 15) on a folded piece of paper so we could use those as the cards.  We just never mailed them.
Hey, one out of 24 ain't too bad...and I feel better after that confession of imperfection.

Day 17 (8 sleeps until Christmas)
Buy a Christmas present for someone in our family
This was such a fun way to let the kids buy and give Christmas presents to each other.  We drew names, all went to the store together, let the kids take turns shopping, then came home and let them trade their purchases.
KJ drew Cbug

 

Cbug drew Lou

and Lou drew KJ

Day 18 (7 sleeps until Christmas)

Make Fudge.  Keep some. Give some.

Lou missed much of this one because we were doing it in the afternoon and my idea to let her skip her nap ended up being a terrible idea...she went to bed while we finished.  This recipe is super duper easy and delicious.  So easy, kids can help and it is done before their attention was lost (no small feat).  There may or not have been some taste testing along the way, though...I'll let you examine the evidence and decide for yourself.

Then the next day (because this fudge is much easier to cut if you let it cool in the fridge for 24 hours) we packaged it in a few small Christmas tins and made some fun deliveries.

Day 19 (6 more sleeps until Christmas)

Go Christmas caroling.

I mean, I'm not one to brag...but this memory was born from pure-parenting-genius.  That spark of incredible intelligence may or may not have been born from sheer laziness, but that doesn't diminish the result.  So, I realize that I am the one that came up with the list of activities.  I knew well ahead of time what they all were.  But for some reason when the kids picked the ornament that said "Go Christmas caroling" I had a moment of "WHAT WAS I THINKING???".  My original notion that it would be adorable for our three angels to sing on the doorstep of a few friends was quickly replaced by the reality that it would be incredibly awkward when they likely chickened-out and left RRL and I standing there squawking out some Christmas tunes (I squawk, he can actually sing...but still).  PLUS it was cold.  And rainy.  So no, I didn't want to go Christmas caroling.  Bah-Humbug.  But the ornament was chosen, and read aloud...and then in a moment of good fortune, KJ asked "What is caroling?"  This is where my amazing-mom-reflexes kicked in and in flash of quick thinking I hurried through an explanation about singing with your friends for other people, but since it was cold...WOULDN'T IT BE FUN to sing to our stuffed animals instead.  Even RRL, who sometimes laughs at these sorts of silly ideas, agreed that singing to stuffed animals in our warm living room was quite possibly my best idea ever.  It SAVED us.  and actually ended up being a lot of fun.  Yes, I have video.  No, it will not be posted here.

We let each child create a "house" of their animals.

And then we traveled around the "neighborhood" hand-in-hand, knocking on doors and singing their favorite Christmas songs.  It was so much fun.  And warm.

One more post coming, don't miss Days 20-24.

ABL