December things

Events and fun times in December

We took the kids to make gingerbread houses at the Home Depot and it was Charlie's first time to do one!  We used to do these all the time with Jack and some with Lucy.  Three became hard to wrangle all the time so Charlie is starting out a little bit later than his siblings but I don't think he minded much :)

Lucy took this very seriously because when she saw what we were doing she immediately said, "Oh it's crafting!"  And then she was in heaven.

That weekend we also decorated for Christmas - we have had to move the tree's location to near the fireplace.  As always, I love love love our real tree.  Nothing smells better and we managed to find the absolute perfect tree again :)

I will never understand why people don't put lights outside.  it is hands down one of my favorite things about the Christmas season.  I mean, this just looks merry.

Because I love to set myself up for remembering impossible things, I decided this year to introduce St. Nicholas's feast day.  I remember as a kid leaving my shoes by the fireplace and waking up to find candy in them.   Luckily I had three Hershey bars in the pantry that no one had noticed yet, so it worked out.  I have a feeling I won't be as lucky next year... This may be a one time thing people.

In an effort to start some sort of family game night and instill in my children my love of board games, I thought it was time to teach them Mexican Train.  It is definitely a much tamer version than I play with my parents and sister.  But I was impressed at how quickly they picked it up!  And how cutthroat they became in record time - Ole!

One Friday night, we went to the library park with the Glovers to see all the awesome lights

Lucy was in awe.  The boys mostly chased each other in the cold and had a blast.

They really do such a great job each year with the lights.  It really helps put you in the Christmas spirit when you are dragging yourself to work at 7:00 in the morning down Campbell Station.

We had our meet and greet with Santa at church one morning with Pancakes with Santa.  This Santa knew what to do with Charlie this year which was a change from last year. :)

Lucy wrote her very first letter to Santa!  She insisted on writing the entire thing herself and as usual she picked some things that I could totally see coming (Hatchimals) and some that I was a little curious as to how that made it on there (PJ Masks?)  Never underestimate the power of toy commercials during cartoons.

Another big event in December - my nieces turned 5!!!  How are Parker and Teagan a whole hand?!  Mom and Dad flew to California to meet up with them for a Disneyland adventure week and they had such an amazing time.  The girls were in heaven and got Princess overload the whole week!  I had a ton of pictures that mom sent but this one was my favorite.  They got to do Jedi training and meet some characters from Star Wars.  This one of John and Darth Vader is my favorite.

John smiled like a little kid meeting one of his heroes from his childhood.  It was awesome :)

We watched our obligatory Grinch by the fire.

Jack celebrated Grinch day at school with some amateur face paint on my part.

So much crud.  Everyone keeps getting sick and frankly I was beginning to wonder if December was out to get us.  I do love how snugly they are though when they don't feel good.

There are definite breaks in the pitifulness for some goofiness though.

And frequent destruction of the house and everything in it.

We ended the Christmas season with a trip up to Morristown for the annual Christmas Parade in Mimi and Grandaddy's neighborhood which involved lots of yummy food and another Santa visit!  Not a bad December for the Brimers :)