Monday, December 7, 2015

Christmas Activties

Our first few days of December have been busy! We have our countdown activities ready and waiting for us. Our first couple of activities have not been a disappointment!
We had a candy cane hunt around the house. It took the kids a lot longer to find candy canes than it does Easter eggs, but eventually all the candy canes were found and a few were devoured. 
 Thursday we had a really wonderful opportunity to go to a Living Nativity. We were amazed with everything they had for it and how real it felt. The kids were crazy excited to see real camels there!


 They had "Bethlehem" set up and running like a city. We got to see people doing their work, taking care of animals, and selling things in a market. The kids all got to try some hammering and they got to bang on a sword at the blacksmith shop. 



 The Wise Men told us their story.

 And then we found Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus. This was such a beautiful and peaceful scene. Everyone who walked in became instantly silent and most people didn't want to walk away. It really felt like you were there and part of the nativity. Such a cool experience!!
 Some of the Roman soldiers made the girl nervous cause they kept asking us if we had paid our taxes. Adam thought they were pretty cool. 
 Ma and Pa were able to come with us. It was a really fun night!
 Friday we attempted another family activity and went to Festival of Trees. While we loved it, we learned 2 things. Don't go on a Friday night, and don't go with a toddler. We haven't been since Tessa was a tiny baby. It was a lot easier to wrangle two kids. We made it through all the amazing gingerbread houses and about 6 rows of trees before Caleb had a complete meltdown. But we loved what we saw and it was a good reminder to be thankful for our healthy babies. 

 Adam and Tessa were amazed by the gingerbread houses. Adam especially loved all of the Star Wars themes that we found.








 Our favorite tree. It was all things Rudolph and so cute!
 The girls wanted to buy this tree for their bedroom.

 Proof that we were there. Gwen did not want her picture taken. And our wonderful Daddy was off chasing Caleb around somewhere. It was an adventure!