Day 13: Field Trip with Friends

     24Days 
         of Joy!

A Countdown to Christmas

Okay, so this wasn't exactly Christmasy, and it wasn't exactly educational, but it was a super fun surprise for the kids... A few friends and I decided to take our kids to Fun Fore All, the indoor playground my kids absolutely love. I told them the night before that we were going, and this is how Max greeted me the next morning:

I was standing in the kitchen in my PJs brewing coffee and I heard his little voice. "Look, Mom! I'm ready for Fun Fore All!" He planned the whole outfit, right down to the rifle accessory he needed to bring to show Nathan and Jackson when we got there.

Sam looked out the window, saw the seldom-seen sunshine, and said, "Mom, I think God noticed we were going to fun fore all, so he put up the sun!" He has the funniest way of observing the world lately. Love that kid.

The kids had a wonderful time playing with their friends, and I had a wonderful time talking with my friends.
 

Day 12: Deck the Classroom

     24Days of 
               Joy!

A Countdown to Christmas

A few years ago I bought little Christmas trees for the kids at Hobby Lobby. Each year they've looked forward to putting them up in our school room and decorating them a few weeks before Christmas.




This morning we enjoyed a break from learning and decked out our classroom with snowflakes and trees and our little manger scene.

Another tradition we have in our classroom is the book Christmas Carols for a Kid's Heart by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada. I try to start our days with it, though some days are better than others. It includes a story about the history of 12 of the best-known Christian Christmas carols - who wrote them, when they were written, and what they're about. There is a music CD included, so after we read about them we listen and sing along. It's such a great resource!

Day 11: Homemade Christmas Ornaments

24Days of Joy!

A Countdown to Christmas

I am soooo not crafty. Truly, I have no business being a homeschooler. I loathe glue and little pairs of scissors and tiny pieces of paper all over my floor. I am the awful mother that groans when she receives a tshirt covered in her kids' handprints that she will be expected to wear in public. So when I dared to put "homemade Christmas ornaments" on my 24 days of joy list a few weeks ago, I deleted it, then added it back again, then deleted it again, then consulted Pinterest, and finally left it hovering on Day 11 because, to be honest, I was running short of ideas. And then, like a Christmas miracle, my kids came trotting out of their Sunday school classrooms last week waving little white angels made out of paper plates, and an idea was born. I shamelessly added on to those who went before me last Sunday... Praise God for sweet, creative Sunday school teachers. So for all you non-crafty kindred spirits out there, check your mom-shame at the door and read on.

Step One: Pull an already-made Christmas craft out of your child's bookbag. I assure you, there will be gobs of them in there, all made under the patient guidance of creative crafters such as teachers, tutors, or Sunday school volunteers. Spend at least one full minute rejoicing over the glue that will not be spilled on the kitchen table, the markers that will not be left out for baby brother to find and color all over the couch with, and the tantrum that will not be had by your all-thumbs kindergartener who can't get his glitter where he wants it. All done? Okay, you're ready to proceed.


Step Two: Grab some recent snapshots of your kids. Have them cut them out. Glue them onto the already-made Christmas craft somewhere. Anywhere, really. Now at this point I imagine you're saying, Ummm, she's not exactly Martha Stewart.

Exactly.

In my non-Martha opinion this can really work with anything. My kids had angels, but you could put a picture on a snowflake, a snowman, or whatever you might find in their bookbag. When it comes to crafts my attitude is get in, get out, go home, so work with what you've got, people.


Step Three: Have them sign their name on the back and date with with their age.


Step Four: Hang it high on the Christmas tree so the aforementioned baby brother can not get it and put it in the toilet place it elsewhere in the house.


Step Five: Put the glue and markers away, for Pete's sake. Your toddlers are coming, and they can sniff out mischief like dogs can smell fear.

Just for kicks, I pulled a few homemade ornaments from years past off the tree to give you some extra ideas.

This one cracks me up. Chloe made it in preschool. I think she's supposed to be an angel.

This popsicle stick snowflake is cute...

Chloe made this in preschool too. It's one of my favorites.

Inside is a picture of her with the class goose. She loved that goose.

This one someone made for us that year after she was born. It's made out of those foam sheets you can buy anywhere. I pasted a picture of her from Christmas 2005 on the back.

 

Day 10: Christmas Carol Dance Party

24Days of Joy!

A Countdown to Christmas

 

So, this was a fun one. So much fun, in fact, that I debuted it yesterday and we repeated it today by demand of three blue-eyed children.

It was pretty simple - no planning required.

After lunch I plugged my iphone, which had been stealthily programmed earlier in the day with a fantastic new playlist of my Christmas faves, into a little portable player.

 I told the kids as they were toting their dirty dishes to the sink that we were going to get down to some awesome Christmas tunes. I offered up instruments from the playroom closet, but they were having too much fun doing their own little happy dances to waste energy on flutophones and tin tambourines. Charlie loves to dance, and the kid has moves like Jagger. Sadly, he was the only one I got a decent action shot of . (He was wearing Chloe's red wool beret at the time... What can I say? He's one rad dude.) The other three were moving too fast to be caught on film, and I wisely set the camera down and soaked in the joy instead.

Here's a bit of our Christmas playlist. Cheers!

SMITH FAMILY CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST 2012

Three Ships - Sting

Tennessee Christmas - Amy Grant

Light of the Stable - Selah

Born in Bethlehem - Third Day

Oh Holy Night - Tracy Chapman

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy

Christmas - Barenaked Ladies

Christmas Like a Child - Third Day

Jingle Bell Rock - Billy Idol

Welcome to our World - Chris Rice
 

 

Day 9: Peanut Butter Blossoms

24Days of Joy!

A Countdown to Christmas

All I have to say is that these things are amazeballs. I can NOT stop eating them. Make some for yourselves and then try to eat just one (or four). They are calling my name from the silver tin on top of the fridge as my fingers go tap-tap-tap on the keyboard.


Here's a link to the {super easy} recipe: Yum!

 

Day 8: PPG Wintergardens & Market Square

24Days of Joy!

A Countdown to Christmas

In all the years I've lived in Pittsburgh, I have never gone to PPG Place Wintergarden for their "Santas from Around the World" display, and I was really excited to take the kids.



There are statues of Santa from various countries on display around a miniature railroad that circles hundreds of gingerbread houses. Seemed awesome!


Ummmm... not so much, actually. I hate to offend anyone that might be a lover of this annual event, but Greg and I thought it was a bit of a dud. It was kind of... boring. There were tons of people there, so it was hard for our little ones to get a close look at the gingerbread creations, and the Santas were not much more than some statues scattered about with little plaques in front of them detailing the Christmas traditions of another country. Not really something you could take in and enjoy with, say, an eight-year-old, two six-year-olds, and a wiggly toddler determined to escape his stroller. They liked the seeing eye dog that was next to us better than the train or the gingerbread village.    

We left pretty quickly and walked down to Market Square, which was set up like a European shopping market for Christmas. It was cute, but really not very kid-friendly. In my mind I'd envisioned little stalls selling European baked goods and steaming cups of hot chocolate... Instead we toured a few rows of huts full of Christmas chotskies. Sheesh, I hate chotskies. I even hate the word chotskie. I saw a Dunkin Donuts across the square like a beacon in a dark night, and we made a beeline toward it in a feeble attempt to make good on our promise to the kids that this was going to be a super fun experience.

Ya win some, ya lose some. We still had fun :-).

Day 7: The Nutcracker

24Days of Joy!

A Countdown to Christmas

Yesterday, my friends and I took our little girls to Pittsburgh Ballet Theater's performance of The Nutcracker. It was so, so much fun. Going to the ballet every Christmas in December has become a special tradition for Chloe and I; I've taken her every year since she was about three. This year we did something different, and attended with our friends on the PBT's "student day," which is their dress rehearsal that they give for students on the day of Opening Night. The tickets were about 90% cheaper than they normally are, and the seats were incredible! 

I know I'm biased, but could these five young ladies be any more darling?

Going downtown to the Benedum Center is such a treat. Getting all dressed up and going to the "big city" at Christmas is something I always hoped I would do with my daughter. During intermission, each one of them discussed which ballerina they would be if dreams came true. Chloe always picks "the blue one."

I took these pictures with my iphone so unfortunately, they're a little blurry. The girls all sat together at one end of the row, and the moms were at the other end. It was fun to look down in the dark throughout the performance and see five little wide-eyed faces, entranced.

Afterward we went to lunch together. It was a wonderful day spent with friends, and the start of what I hope will be a yearly tradition!