so far

The boys and I have been counting down (or rather, up) the days till Christmas with these advent envelopes that I made (it was really hard - I cut long envelopes in half and punched a hole in the top for the ribbon...). In each one is a little treat for each of them and some kind of activity for us to do. For some of the activities we've made Christmas cookies for friends (and us), hung lights with Papa, and colored pictures and sent them to grandparents. Although I think their favorite are the ones that say, "Drink cocoa and watch a Christmas movie!"

We have a little system where they stand on the rug and wait while I go get that days envelope (they can't know where they are or else it'd all be over in one day. Such boys), then we sing Jingle Bells, take a picture, and open it up. They've been super excited about the whole thing, even though some of the envelopes just have a handful of chocolate chips in them for the treat (What?? I didn't want to go out and buy treats, so I had to make do with what we had). Although I scored a ton of Hershey Kisses at the Relief Society Christmas party the other night that they had leftover from the center pieces. As my Grandpa would say, The Lord will provide. :) They'll think they've hit the jackpot when we get to those envelopes.

I'm loving the pictures we've taken everyday (except for day #2 - it's a must that I take the picture in the morning). I think I'll probably use the pictures somehow in next year's advent adventures.