To get the holiday season started off right, we received an e-mail from the jolly ol man himself! Daniel was super thrilled and impressed with this! Check out Daniel's personal message here: Santa message.
On the first of the month, our Neighborhood Association had our Annual Holiday Bazaar! The downside was that it was rainy and cold...and the festivites were all outside. Daniel was very excited about this, so a little cold and rain wasn't going to keep us away! It started at 4:30 with Santa arriving at 5:00. So, I got the kids bundled up and headed out- we timed it right and got there at the same time as Tony. Things were already in full swing and everyone was having fun. After we dropped off our toy donations, we headed off to find Santa. Not only did we find Santa, but also Frosty and an Elf! The only downside was that they did not have a chair set up for Santa to sit in so the kids couldn't actually sit on his lap. Daniel went right up, but Arianna was holding on pretty tight. Santa sensed her hesitation and offered up a candy cane. She quickly went over and grabbed her candy cane and retreated. We got her up there long enough for a picture and she was done with that. No tears this year, but I'm sure if she had sat on his lap tears would be a given.
They had guys dressed up and walking on stilts which Daniel thought was neat. We grabbed some food from local restaraunt booths- yummy mexican and ice cream! The kids got to make reindeer antlers and bell necklaces and play a few games.
Daniel was super excited that Santa brought two of his reindeer for us to see. Very cool!
We stood in line for the face painting and balloon animals, but it started raining pretty hard. While the tables were under tents, we weren't! Daniel was quickly persuaded that the balloon wasn't so important and we escaped to the warmth of the car! All in all, it was a fun night!
Daniel asked for a bike and the interactive Buzz and Woody for himself and a Mickey Mouse kitchen for his sister. I think he asked for an Xbox for his Daddy and for his Mom to be able to stay in the Disney castle :-). He also asked for snow. So, you can imagine his utter delight to wake up the next morning to SNOW!! It didn't last long and wasn't the nice fluffy stuff to play in, but it was admired and enjoyed the same!
The lights went up on the house the weekend after Thanksgiving as usual- the guy that does them for us is awesome! The tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but our tradition is to decorate it the night of Dec 2nd. Why you ask? In 2007 when I was pregnant with Arianna, we decorated the tree on Dec 2nd and the next morning our little Princess decided she didn't want to wait another month and came into the world a bit early! So, we just decided that will be our decorating day from now on! We had fun decorating and anyone with small kids will understand why only the top half of the tree is decorated! She actually is very good and doesn't bother the tree, but I'm sure lots of stuff at the bottom would be too tempting for now. Daniel did a great job helping and we had fun!
Next up was our traditional gingerbread house decorating. This was our 3rd year and it's always a fun time. The prior 2 years, we made the gingerbread from scratch and constructed our house. However, this year I was feeling a little time pressured and opted for a pre-made kit. I did NOT like using the kit and will definitely make time for the homemade gingerbread next year! We all had fun decorating our family gingerbread house-everyone had a part! And yes, there are hidden Mickey's on the house!
In between our everyday things, we'll be making our annual goodie baskets and lots of other fun stuff! Hope your holiday preparations are going well! Happy Holidays!
1 comment:
What didn't you like about the premade gingerbread houses? We used them this year and I loved them.
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