Daily December... Almost There!

Let's see....

December 19 - Took Eliana's Christmas picture in her pretty new Christmas dress.



December 20 - Eliana got to wear her new Christmas dress to church!



December 21 - Ellie and Daddy built snowmen!! We had the Turners and Werners over for dinner.



December 22 - Mary Kay Christmas Party!

December 23 - Daddy and Eliana went sledding at Peet's Hill. We went to the Richters' for dinner with the Gravings.

December 24 - Roundup and Christmas Eve!

December 25 - Merry Christmas and flying to Texas!







All that's left is to take pictures tomorrow and Christmas day and then finish the album I've been working on. Woohoo!

I can't believe we actually made it through Daily December this year. It has been so much fun!

Getting toward the end of December!

We're getting to the end of December - crazy! I have been having so much fun with Eliana doing holiday things each day, though. Next year I'd really like to do an advent calendar / book or advent tree. I didn't grow up with advent, but I have a few friends who are doing it with their kids this year and I really like the idea. I have a few ideas for making an advent book, but it will take me a while to put it all together, so hopefully I'll get to work on it throughout the year and have it done by next December! We'll see. =D In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to have to start planning our activities out so we get them all in!

December 14 - we sang Christmas carols. I played the piano and sang, and then Ellie and I just sang together. We also listened to carols as we drove around on our errands!

December 15 - Peppernut Day!!

December 16 - Our 9th anniversary - we are going to go out to dinner tonight. Ellie and I are also baking gingerbread snowflakes to use as tags on our gifts this year. =D

December 17 - We read "The Gingerbread Baby" complete with a gingerbread hand puppet that added to the fun!



December 18 - We baked sugar cookies with Erika and Zoe!





December 19 - We might go see Santa at the Children's Museum and have Ellie's picture taken. She knows Santa isn't real, but it might still be fun! We should also take our family Christmas picture this weekend!

December 20 - Sunday before Christmas - Ellie will get to wear her pretty Christmas dress!

December 21 - Leif is home from work this week, so I hope he will take Ellie out to make a snow man!

December 22 - More Ellie and Leif time, I hope they make snow angels or go sledding!

December 23 - Hmmm... Salt Dough Ornaments? Ice ornaments?

December 24 - Leif's Family Christmas in Roundup, Christmas eve dinner of crackers and cheese

December 25 - Christmas!! Christmas morning gifts followed by a plane ride to Texas to see my family!

Daily December...

December 10 - I got to do some holiday crafting while Ellie got to play with a friend and a sitter. I had worship team practice at church and played some Christmas carols! =D (Okay, so today is a bit of a holiday stretch!) I also wrapped gifts today!!

December 11 - Right Now Christmas Party!!



December 12 - Holiday Cookie Exchange with the church ladies! Also, Ellie started opening her 12 days of Christmas gifts... (Flower slap bracelet)



December 13 - MK Holiday Open House (and Day 2 gift - stick on earrings!)

December 14 - today we are either going to make Peppernuts or salt dough ornaments or sing Christmas carols. =D

December Daily Continued...

Let's see...

December 6 - We drove around and looked at Christmas lights in the neighborhood.



December 7 - We went over to the Taylor's house for dinner and a GRINCHfest! Our first viewing of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" this year! We also read the book at home in preparation. =D





December 8 - Josie came over for a few hours and we made paper snowflakes! They're hanging in the window of the kitchen door right now.







December 9 - We watched the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and Ellie got to make Christmas Tree Spritz cookies with Daddy!!

Daily December

This year Eliana and I are doing holiday activities daily in December. I tried to do this last year, but we didn't do a very good job of recording everything! This year we are doing more activities and I am trying to document them as we go. So far here's where we are, with plenty of photo documentation to prove it...

December 1 - Ellie and Josie made their first batch of holiday cookies! We tried to make cookies with a cookie press using Martha Stewart's recipe, but it wouldn't go through the press. Instead the girls rolled the cookies into little balls and pressed their thumbs in for thumbprint cookies. They ended up tasting pretty good, and the girls had fun making them! We used the rest of the dough to make large circle cookies, and dipped them half in chocolate. Yum!







December 2 - We started devouring the gingerbread house!







We also donated to the Salvation Army and talked about giving to others on this day.



December 3 - I wrapped the first Christmas gifts!



Then Eliana and I made little heart candies for the holidays.





December 4 - Amber and I took Ellie and Josie to Arts on Fire to paint some Christmas gifts.





December 5 - We went to the Christmas Stroll in downtown Bozeman!





And today? Well, we'll see what today holds. There are still plenty of holiday things to do!

Holiday Ornament Making

This year Eliana made a few Christmas presents in the form of salt dough ornaments. I would like to see her take a more active role in our gift giving, and this was a first step. We went over to Erika and Zoe's house and the girls made ornaments while we did other holiday baking. It was a lot of fun and I'd love to do it again next year!





Ellie and J flattening out the salt dough.



Baking the ornaments...



Singing Christmas carols!



Painting the ornaments at home the next day... Eliana painted them all by herself!



I think they turned out very nicely for ornaments made and hand painted by a 2 year old! I think they were appreciated by the grandparents. I kept a couple for her to have as keepsakes, too.

Daily December

This year I am going to do Daily December activities with Eliana. We're going to spend time doing something for the holidays every day, and I'm going to do my best to take pictures and record what we're doing. I made a little Daily December album last month in which to record these memories so that we can look back on the things we did to celebrate Christmas this year.

And wouldn't you know it, but today is December 3 and I haven't yet recorded what we did on the 1st or the 2nd. The good news is that we DID something those days, though! Here's what we did:

December 1 - Drove around the subdivision looking at Christmas lights. It turns out that Eliana is a big fan of decorated houses and calls the houses with lights on them "castles". As in, "WOW! Look at that big castle over there!" It's cute.

December 2 - Eliana and I bought some Christmas books to read this season (including How the Grinch Stole Christmas and S is for Star) and we put up a new little Christmas tree in her room. It doesn't have any ornaments or a star on it yet, but it does have some red garland on it, which she picked out. I hope to use the Christmas tree this year to talk about the symbolism of the different decorations.

And today? Well, we'll have to see what we do today. She has friends coming over this afternoon, so we might bake cookies (in the shape of ginger bread men!) or we might make salt dough ornaments, or we might make cinnamon hard candy (in the shape of ginger bread men!) or we might play in the snow and learn to make snow angels or we might do something entirely different. We'll just have to see how the day goes. =D