On the Hunt for a Christmas Tree... & Other Christmas Decorations

We had wanted to go get our Christmas tree after the kiddos were done with their meets on Saturday because it was such a gorgeous day, but the older three were suppose to head back out to a youth group Christmas party at 5:00, so we decided that we didn't have time and would have to wait until Sunday after church instead.  Thankfully Sunday was suppose to be another sunny day, but again, we had a Deacon's christmas party later that evening, so we had a limited amount of time.  We would have loved to drive up the Henslers Tree Farm because they have nicer trees and you get to take the tractors back to the field and get the whole experience, but due to the time constraint, we knew we would have to stick closer to home so we drove 30 minutes to go back to Potters Tree Farm where we've gone two of the past three years.  The trees are much smaller there, and it is obvious that they paint their trees to make them look greener, but we would just have to make it work if we wanted to get a tree.

The field that we were directed to didn't have very many trees to choose from.  Surely that means it would be much easier to decide, right?

We found several that were nicely shaped right away, but they were all just so short.  

This was Laynie's first choice and she said that she was just going to keep standing there until we cut the tree down.  As you can see, it's not much taller than she is.  We all just kept walking and eventually she gave up and ran over to join us.  LOL

Where did the top half of this tree go?

Keep searching gang... we will eventually find something.

And then Melayna spotted her next tree.  We called this one "fatty" because it was so round...and still not very tall!!

After taking a few silly pictures in front of the tree, the rest of the family moved on to look for another option but Melayna decided to stand by it again 'just in case we changed our minds'.

"Please, can we take him home?"

Okay, so maybe this is the one!  At least it's taller.

No going back.  The tree belongs to us now!

Can we please get one family picture?  And if we're all staring directly into the sun and squinting and doing weird and unknown things with our faces, that would be the most perfect picture ever!!  LOL

And now a selfie so that Aaron could be included in our picture.

I really think Aaron found this whole experience quite funny as we ran from tree to tree and quarreled over who had found the best one and then found the silliest reasons not to like anyone else's choice...and Marissa never did approve of any of them so that made it funnier.

We made memories together though and in the end, that's what it's all about anyway.

Now let's load this tree up and get it back to the car.

Good bye Potter Tree Farm.

Maybe next year?

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That was four days ago and the tree is now inside the house and Noel and I put the lights on it but we have had to wait to decorate it because there hasn't been a night when all four of the kids are home and have enough time to do it all together.  

At least the rest of the house is festive and bright.

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Traditionally, we tend to wait until at least the Saturday after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas.  This year wasn't any different.  I woke up Saturday morning and carried the Christmas tubs into the dining room and then as soon as the two older girls came home from their swimming meet, we began to decorate the house.  Our tree will have to wait a week or two more, but the lights are hung and the rest of the house is ready to go.  There is just something so fun about watching the kids put the decorations back into the "assigned" locations and then watching the white lights twinkle in the dark evenings as we relax together.  

This year we let Nolan set up the wooden nativity set.  I think that may have been the only decoration that he set out because he ended up playing with all of the characters as he put them "just right".

Pictures from our afternoon silliness....'cuz it just simply does happen!  LOL

Morgan was suppose to take some Christmas themed photos for her photography class and I liked the way some of them turned out so I'm also including them here for future reference.

I have done an Advent Calendar of sorts in past years.  For several years, I hid prizes around the house or gave the kids coupons for special treats that they would cash in later.  I have to admit (sadly), that the three older girls had really outgrown those activities and they just played along for Nolan's sake.  I was trying to think of something bigger and better this year that would get the girls involved once again and I was striking out.  Then last week as Nolan and I were driving down the road, a song about Santa Claus came on the radio.  Nolan said, "Mom, everyone knows about Santa and thinks that Christmas is about him, but it's not.  It's really about Jesus.  I want to go back to thinking about Jesus.  Can we read verses about Jesus when we count down the days until we open our presents?"  

Hey, if a 7 year old has such a wonderful request, I definitely think we need to take him up on it, right?   So after spending some time online looking for Christian Advent activities, I found some simple cards that have Bible references on them and tell the story of Christmas.  Nolan helped me print them off, color them, and get them laminated.  Then we hung them up on our door and we will take turns reading and talking about the Bible passages that are listed each day.

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I'm also happy to announce that except for one more stocking stuffer for the girls, I'm completely finished with my Christmas shopping for the year -- and half of my Christmas cards have been mailed out.  I'm definitely ahead of schedule this year and I'm thankful.  'Maybe I can just slow down, bake a few cookies, and enjoy this Christmas season.

'Hoping the same for all of you!

Making Gingerbread Houses

This year in our advent countdown, one of the activities that Melayna received was to make a gingerbread house.  (I knew that the other two girls consider themselves too grown up for that and I wasn't sure that Nolan would be excited for it either).  As it turns out, after Melayna opened up her activity and saw that she could build her house, Nolan asked if he could also make a gingerbread house and so I headed off to the store to buy another one.

I had bought Melayna's house at Walgreens one day and it was one that you assembled the pieces and put together using icing.  A few days later I picked up a house for Nolan while we were shopping at Walmart and I was in a hurry and didn't read the box very well until we got home and then I saw that it came fully assembled.  All you had to do with his was add the icing and the candy.

It was super neat and easy to pull the fully assembled house out of the box but you can't eat a gingerbread house that has been boxed up (and glued together) for months, can you?!

It also came with all of the candy that you would need.  The night that Nolan asked to make his house, I was buried under in a project for work, so thankfully Marissa offered to help him make it.

They did a really nice job adding snow and plenty of decorations to the house using the icing and fondant frosting.

Here is Nolan's finished project.

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A few nights later, Melayna wanted to make her house.  Her house came in pieces and we had to put it together and try to "glue" it together using frosting.  It looks so easy but it was a mess and the pieces kept falling in while we tried to add another piece!!

 We finally managed to get it somewhat together and then she just started putting tons of frosting on top of the house hoping that it all set up and kept it together.  LOL

(We also realized that the box must have been dropped before we bought it because the roof is missing a chunk from it.

Oh well!  It's all about the memories, right?

 A side by side comparison of our houses this year!!