Christmas Goodies

Is everyone busy enjoying the festivities that come with December? It is fun to watch the excitement especially through the kids' eyes. We had to set up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving because they were so excited. I was dragging my feet a little because I didn't want to move all of the stuff in the way of the Christmas storage boxes. I mentioned the piles to Emma and, the next thing I know, everything was moved. Emma very industriously went to work so we could get started decorating.

On Saturday, we went to a gingerbread house event. It was fascinating watching Alex and Emma each build their own house. Emma's is a little more sparsely decorated because she was also interested in trying out new types of candy. Hers is also missing several pieces since it arrived home as she sneaks pieces to suck on. Alex started out a little slow, but really started to get into it after a while. He used every piece of candy he could find and created wonderful designs. They are very proud their houses are built using frosting only. A few people at the event gave up and resorted to hot glue guns because they couldn't get the roofs to stay.
On Sunday afternoon, we volunteered for a group that is stuffing stockings for children in need. The kids helped sort donations and then decorated several stockings. Even Benjamin got into it. We worked on two stockings together. He pointed out what decoration he wanted and then I helped with the glue. If I didn't do the right thing, he definitely let me know. He had clear ideas about how he wanted his stockings to look. It was fun and I think the kids enjoyed giving their time to children who need a little joy in their lives.