Christmas Catchup - the trees

First it was time to decorate the big tree. It was another great IKEA tree and it is wonderful and full! No theme this year, but we decorated the whole tree not just the top half (note- this only makes sense if you have toddlers). I consider that progress. Maybe by the time they are teenagers I will have that perfect tree that could be in a Pottery Barn catalogue. I can dream right?

Anyway, try to get a serious picture of three young children and you know you are asking for trouble. This day was not an exception. Silly Billies.

Each kid has their own little tree for their rooms. They loved decorating them. We got in our jammies and listened to Christmas music and they did their little trees up just so. Totally sweet and lovely.

Christmas Catchup - Nativity Scenes and Advent Calendars

I am ending radio silence with some getting-ready-for-Christmas updates. The shopping is 90% done, the decorations are finally up and my 3 weeks of working full time are almost over. Now I have a bit of time to blog and show you what we have been up to.

First off we have not one but 3 nativity scenes in our house. One we got as a wedding gift (got married in Dec), one is a Veggie Tales set the kids got a few years ago, and the latest purchase is a playmobil nativity. They love it. In fact pieces of it keep turning up all over the house!

I also bought them really cool advent calendars. L's is a fairy Playmobil calendar. Each day she gets a little fairy or their accessories. She plays with it a ton. And sometimes the playmobil wise men come to visit the enchanted forest, and they chat about baby Jesus :^)

The boys got... you guessed it LEGO calendars! The pieces are everywhere already but it's ok, they are really loving it as they work on it day by day and that's good enough for me.

We did have one of those reusable calendars with little fabric pockets. I love it and wanted to use it somehow too. So I combined that with the idea for them to memorize part of Luke 2 (the Christmas story - inspired by my Auntie Marjie would did this with her boys a long time ago). Each pocket has a verse and they learn one each day before they open their toy calendars.

R is doing great, really great. His mind is like a sponge. K has a few verses totally down pat but I think I am going to focus with him on just the shepherds/ angels part. That might be the amount he can handle! L just likes to listen and pretend she knows them too.