The Organ Family

25 Days of Christmas: Day 7

Day 7: Wrapping Christmas Presents

This was an activity that I was a little apprehensive about doing. We had just spent the past few nights letting McKinley unwrap books from under the tree and now I was going to attempt to have her do just the opposite.

This child never ceases to amaze me! She LOVED helping me wrap the presents. Her favorite things to do were putting on the bows and the gift tags, which I should have known she would enjoy because they are both basically stickers.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 5 & 6

Day 5: Shopping for the Angel Tree

Some of our Advent activities have to do with helping others. This particular day we were shopping for a child from our YES Angel Tree at church.

Day 6: Christmas Movie

Today's Christmas movie was Veggie Tales: The Toy That Saved Christmas

25 Days of Christmas: Day 4

Day 4: Setting up the Nativity(s)

Nativities are a bit of a tradition in my family. Growing up, a Nativity was always part of our holiday decor. So when Mike and I got married, it only seemed natural to have a Nativity in our home each Christmas. Now that we have a growing family, I want our children to have the same special memories.

The Nativity that Mike and I own was given to us as a wedding present, it is very special and isn't child friendly. I really want our little ones to be able to help in setting up the Nativity, so I started searching for a more kid friendly option. I found this Nativity and it is perfect.

McKinley loved getting to help set it up and she loves all the characters. In addition to Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus & the 3 Wise Men, it has lots of animals. It also has an Angel, that when placed on top of the manger, a star lights up and "Silent Night" plays.

While I was planning our "25 Days of Christmas" activities I knew I wanted one of the days to be focused on the Nativity and its special meaning. So this particular night, our little family opened and set up both of the Nativities.

Nativity #1

McKinley was telling me what a sheep says...Baaaaaaa:)

Here she is showing us Baby Jesus.

Nativity #2

25 Days of Christmas: Day 3

Day 3: McKinley's Christmas Tree

McKinley LOVED decorating her little white Christmas Tree for her room! She was so fast at putting the ornaments on the tree that Mike and I couldn't get the ornament hooks on fast enough.

After we finished decorating the tree in her bedroom, McKinley got to open one of her Christmas books. This particular night the book was "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". She absolutely loves this book because it is a recordable audio book that most of the extended family recorded over Thanksgiving.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 2

Day 2: Gingerbread House

McKinley loved making her first gingerbread house. Her favorite part of decorating was playing with all the different kinds of candy. She spent more time with her hands in the bowls of candy than actually putting it on the house. Therefore we only decorated the roof instead of the whole house or we might still be sitting at the table today.

McKinley was very proud of her decorating skills!

On a completely different note, I wanted to share about the gingerbread house base I am using. It is called The Candy Cottage and it is a plastic reusable house. I just used normal cake icing, attached the candy and then you wash it and store it for the next time you want to make a candy house.