Included in each tree is an activity for the day as well as a special Christmas-related scripture reading. This year's scripture verses were different than the ones I used last year and not particularly kid-friendly. We will try again next year.
December 1- Decorate the Christmas tree. It's always my job to get that dusty old tree put together and strung with lights, and once that's done, I let the kids have at it, with very minimal rearrangement of the ornaments (only if there are like 5 ornaments on the same branch). I, myself, am no home-decorator, so I would do no better at decorating the tree than the kids do anyhow.
December 2- Make paper snowflakes.
December 3- Plant candy cane seeds. To grow a candy cane you need to plant candy cane seeds (red tic tacs) in a bowl full of sugar. Then they need the light of the Christmas tree to grow overnight.
December 4- Frozen yogurt at Tutti Fruitti
December 5- See a movie at the theater with friends. Sometimes I use previously scheduled events in place of having to do something additional that day.
December 6- Simpsonville Christmas parade. I'm pretty sure the kids just like to go because of all the candy they get to collect. It's not even good candy either, mostly broken candy canes or peppermints. And if there is any good candy, Dad eats it first. But going to the parade is a tradition we've stuck with for the last several years and, as lame as it is, I still think it's fun for some reason. This year, as one martial arts group was going by, they selected Sam to stand up and break a board with his fist.
December 7- Watch Mormon messages
December 8- Sing carols and drink apple cider
December 9- Make a Christmas craft.
December 10- Pick out a new treat to make. The boys agreed on peppermint Oreo muddy buddies and we made them at a later date.
December 11- Ward Christmas party. The last several years, our ward Christmas party has been held at the city's activity center because the ward has just been too big to hold the activity at the church. With our ward having been recently split, we still had the Christmas party together so it would just be easier on both wards. Claire was terrified of Santa. Nathanael finally decided to sit on his lap, just so he could score a candy cane, at the end of the evening. As we were driving home, Nathanael declared, "it felt like Santa had peed his pants." Poor Santa had been sitting there all evening, and I'm sure that darn Santa suit is hot!
December 12- Christmas shopping. Nathanael had previously done a little Christmas shopping at the Santa shop at school. He picked out a few things for Sam and Claire all on his own, and he was so proud of his choices. It was really sweet. He picked out a butterfly ring and butterfly magnet for Claire and a little dart game for Sam. So, on this shopping day, we all went browsing but only Sam was actually shopping for Nathanael and Claire. When I told him he was going to shop for them, he instantly knew what he wanted to get Claire. He wanted to go to a specific store where he knew of a specific stuffed kitty that she had liked months before. Then he settled on getting Nathanael a Nerf gun that, come to find out later, unbeknownst to Sam or me, Nathanael had been begging Dad to buy him while they were browsing.
As an added bonus on the 12th, we were also babysitting the Dyrhaug kids. As I was hustling to get dinner started before they arrived, Claire went to the bathroom. Afterward, as she was wandering around, in and out of the kitchen, I could hear water running but had no reason to think anything of it. Hearing the water also, Claire announced "Nathanael is using the bathroom," and then went to go peek. She returned quickly, reporting "uhhhh, something's wrong..." Something was wrong, alright; she had clogged the toilet with the ridiculous amounts of toilet paper she uses, and the toilet was running without ceasing. Water was just pouring out, covering the bathroom floor and starting to run into the foyer. It was pretty fantastic.
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