Christmas Activities

 Of coarse the first thing on the list was stopping to see Santa.

 So a couple months ago we told Austin the truth about Santa. He was starting to ask questions in front of Mikayla and I was nervous it would start to put doubt in her mind so we decided it was time. At the end of our conversation he said "can we just pretend you didn't tell me?" So sweet and innocent that kid is! So he was a good sport to play along and sit on Santa's lap. When Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas he said "it's okay....I don't need anything." Then Santa and him talked about how it is more important to give then receive.

 Mikayla told Santa that she wanted Shopkins and a hamster.

 And Brooklyn was a little shy but she sat on his lap and even gave him a hug.

 This little sweetie was all smiles for Santa!

 We did lots of Christmas baking. Mostly cookies and chocolate pretzel rings.

We had a fun time driving around goodie plates to friends and neighbors.

 This year we gave in to Elf on the Shelf for 2 reasons. First, after seeing how Mikayla was so believing and excited about the gingerbread jumping out of the oven I knew she would love it. And second, since Christmas might not seem as magical to Austin this year, I thought he would enjoy getting to participate with moving the Elf. We named our girl elf Molly.

 Molly mostly moved around to different spots in the living area. We kept it pretty simple. Figured we can always get more creative in the upcoming years.

 There was a couple times we did forget to move the elf so we told Mikayla she must have just really liked that spot and wanted to stay there another day. Mikayla was satisfied with that.

 We did do a couple creative things.....Kayla found the elf bungee jumping from the light. 

 And Austin built this for the elf to sit in.

 The kids cousins got an elf this year too and we discovered their elf was in their birdcage the same day that ours was. I told Kayla that they must be elf friends and talked at the north pole and decided to do that.

 And thank-you to Pinterest for these cute ideas.

 Can't wait to see what situations Molly the Elf gets herself into next year.

 We made Grinch popcorn one night and watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

 When Craig's family was in town we did our traditional night of goodie plates and caroling. We started at one of the nursing homes and then stopped at some neighbors around Vicki's house.

 The kids have been participating in this for several years now and love it!

 Then it's hot chocolate and cookies after the caroling is done.

We also drove around town several nights this month looking at Christmas lights. Even Abby got to join in on the family fun!