Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Well as I type this snow is falling here so we're feeling very Christmassy! There's a very nice layer of snow on the ground.

Here's the kids opening Day 1 of their advent calendar:

I should probably mention that I can't actually remember what I wrote in the calendar! So for our advent calendar so far we've had:

Day 1: Watch a new Christmas movie. We watched "Miracle on 34th St" - the newer version. The kids really loved it, so much so that they watched it again the next morning! We don't do Santa here but he's a character to them that they love, much like Postman Pat or Bob the Builder. So this movie is just as magical for them.

Day 2: Read the real Christmas story. We read a version of it that we had taken out from the library. It was interesting because it had far more embellishments than the story does in the Bible, lots of details that I'm sure are made up. But the way it was told really kept the kids enthralled and we will read the Bible version soon too.

Day 3: Paint a Christmas picture. We don't do painting as often as we probably should, so they really enjoyed this. I'll post pictures of that later on today, as I forgot to take pictures of their creations!

Day 4: Go for a winter walk. Well, that's perfect, since it's snowing today. Later this afternoon we'll be talking a winter walk up to the village square, where there is community Carol singing and turning on of the Christmas lights. I'm sure the kids will really enjoy that!

Some pictures of our December so far:

The singing polar bear at JRD in Ellon.

Maia drinking her hot chocolate at the Happy Plant garden centre. She wanted tinsel in her hair, and I love her smile in the first picture! I'm biased but I just think she is so beautiful.

Gappy boy Calvin, he wanted to show his new tooth is growing in.

Cora and Calvin inside ELC in Aberdeen, pretending to be Santa!

The snow here today. It's still coming down, huge flakes, very heavy!

The Coca Cola truck in Aberdeen. Aaron and I thought it was very disappointing, huge queues for free cans of Coke! But the kids loved seeing it.


A day of shopping tired out miss Maia.

Lastly, my homemade tree skirt. I had looked everywhere for one and couldn't find one. Typically, I found one the day after I made this one! But this is special. It's made with a red American Airlines blanket from a trip to Scotland back when we lived in the States. The snowflakes are made from a special white baby blanket of Maia's, that's too small for her to use now. I love it!