Christmas Activities

This was by far the most fun Christmas season I believe I've ever had! I tried to do as many Christmas activities as possible with the boys (mainly for Jacob). So here's the run down of the activities in the last 30 days.

1. Put up the Christmas decorations. They boys LOVED putting the "balls" on the tree.
2. The Trains at Northpark. We started this tradition last year with my parents. My boys love trains, and so this is a must-see every year!
3. ICE at The Gaylord. I really wanted to see this exhibit this year because of the Charlie Brown theme. They bring in literally tons of ice each year and sculpt scenes based on the theme. It is truly amazing! One minor detail that I forgot was that Andrew HATES to be cold. oops! So he did not take it very well. That meant that I didn't get to see much either. I scurried to get him out of there, but it still took forever because of all of the people. Jacob liked it a lot, so he and Brian had a good time!
4. Christmas Lights. I love looking at Christmas lights each year, and Jacob took an interest this year. So I took them to one of the popular neighborhoods to look at the lights. It only took an hour of waiting in line (after the 30 minute car ride from Grandmother's house), and we made it thru half of the neighborhood. I tried so hard to make it thru the whole thing. I fed them healthy crackers, graham crackers, and Jacob even scored some chocolate during the trip. We jammed to their favorite songs from The Polar Express and my favorites from the Glee Christmas Album (yep...I'm a Gleek). It was fun!
5. Santa. We made it to see Santa! We went with Matthew and Grant, too! The Santa picture of my boys includes the whole family. They were both scared. Then we wanted a picture of all 4 grandsons for my parents. I'm in the picture, too, but I'm mostly hidden. You can see that my boys' shirts are pulled tight to keep them from running away.
6. Decorate Cookies with Santa. I posted about this earlier. We had fun watching the boys freak out around Santa. There weren't any meltdowns, but you could see their discomfort on their little faces. Kinda funny!
7. Elf on the Shelf! It was our first year to have an Elf on the Shelf thanks to Grandmother! Our elf's name is Elfie.
8. Advent Calendar. Again, thanks to Grandmother, we had an Advent Calendar. The boys LOVED moving a small Santa toy from day to day each morning. This was a wonderful thing to have in our house for Christmas.
9. Decorating cookies for Santa. Jacob and I spent some time on Christmas Eve to decorate cookies for Santa. So fun! I can't wait until next year when Andrew will be old enough to participate.
10. The Night Before Christmas. We read this every year. I love this tradition!