Advent Week #1

I had plans...BIG PLANS. I was going to blog about all our little Advent activities EVERYDAY in December. Hmmm.....who hasn't blogged all week? Well, I get to play the twin card. Playing the twin card works for everything because well, to be honest, most people realize Ihave a lot going on. So, I'm hoping that it works here too and you all will forgive me. What, you say you'll forgive me? Fan-freaking-tastic! I knew you would!

Anyway, back to Advent. We live it up here in the Fletcher Lichti house when it comes to the month of December and Advent is just one of the special things that we do. I, along with my incredibly talented mother in law Vicki, made this Advent wall hanging. Actually, I made it and then she took it and did the embroidery and fixed my flawed sewing. I keep trying and I figure one day I'll be a great seamstress!

So, in each pocket there is a little activity that we do as a family. It's just a little thing that we do together everyday. Just a little something that reminds us that no matter how busy this time of year gets, we still want to experience it as a family. Here is a little run down of our first week.....

December 1-Decorate the Christmas tree! This year was special because I was able to tell Georgia about the different ornaments on our tree, where they came from, who gave them to us and why they are special. And by talking about the different ornaments, Nolan and I were able to think back fondly on our childhood Christmases and about every Christmas we have shared. There are ornaments that we each received as children, ones for the dog and cat, our first Christmas as a married couple, some from our wedding (we got married on 12/27), one celebrating our first home, Violet's special ornaments and many more.

Isn't the little kitty just the cutest? Don't let her fool you, she's mean as sin!

December 2-Watch "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas" and make popcorn. Making popcorn is a Sunday night tradition in our house anyway, so we just combined that with a short Christmas movie that Georgia really enjoyed. ABC Family has a ton of Christmas movies on so several of those are being saved to our DVR.

December 3-Read "The Spirit of Christmas" by Nancy Tillman

I love this book. It takes you through all the different parts of Christmas. At the end of the book tells the reader about the best part of Christmas-spending time with those you love. "The best part of Christmas will always be you underneath my Christmas Tree."

December 4-Make frozen hot chocolate for dessert! Hello! This was delicious! If you've never tried it, you must. You must, I tell you! Here is the recipe. Try it. 

Um, seriously cute kid here! 

December 5-Set up the nativity. Here is our cute, fat, wooden nativity. It's not all fancy. That's what I like about it. It's a humble little nativity. 

Fat little guys, aren't they?

December 6-Go to the library after school and check out some Christmas books. We love to go to the library. We were able to find several good choices and make it out of the library before the twins woke up. Success!! Sadly, we had to do this one before Nolan got home from work because we also went to a Christmas memorial service for us and the many other parents who are missing their sweet little babies this time of year. It's always a little sad and touching and wonderful and moving and very beautiful. I'm thankful for those that put it together. It's a great way to honor our little Violet and for her to know that she is not forgotten this Christmas season and to let her know that we are thinking about her too during the hustle and bustle of the season.

December 7-Go to the Irvington Holiday Festival. Irvington is a historical neighborhood close to our house. It is a neighborhood where we would love to move to. Georgia's school is in that neighborhood. It's a nice little community with great restaurants, shops and even a little bakery. Any way, they have a night where the shops stay open a bit later and Santa is in the neighborhood and their are horse drawn carriage rides for free and just all sorts of holiday cheer. Well...this one didn't work out for us this year. BOO! We had big plans to go, but it was raining. None of us wanted to take a carriage ride in the cold and rain. So, Georgia ended up spending the night with Mamaw and Papaw, while Nolan and I did some Christmas shopping. It was good to spend time with Nolan, but I was really looking forward to our original plans. Maybe next year!

December 8-Visit a living nativity. There is a church close by that does a drive thru living nativity. You read different parts of scripture as you drive through and look at the actors in the different scenes that tell the story of Jesus' birth. It's short, but a great little activity for the family. Georgia loved it! 

We also read a couple of books tonight.....

The Snow Angel by Christine Leeson is a great little book about a family of mice who see a beautiful white goose and believe she is an angel. The goose is lost and cold and needs rest and food. The mice give her the only food they have and stay with the goose while she rests. When she wakes, she is again ready to find her friends. When she flies away, the goose thanks the mice by leaving some feathers that the mice use to make their nest nice and warm. It's a lovely story about helping others in need! 

And we also read.....

This was a fun book, for sure. Melvin the Elf finds soul and helps his elf friends make the toys by singing songs. The most fun was Nolan and I trying to sing Elvis songs with different words!

In addition to these daily little activities, we also have a little bit of chocolate that we get every night! You gotta have chocolate candies, right? YUM!

And so that brings your up to date on our Advent activities. Stop by next week to see what we've been up too! You know you want to!!!! It's nothing but excitement in the Fletcher Lichti house!