Time to pay the piper.

The thing about the advent calendar is....  it happens every day.

Every single day there is an activity to be done. And when there are 5 children involved (especially one Megan), there is no getting out of it. Even if we have tons of homework or scouts or Mom has reached the end of her Christmas rope.

So, maybe I convince everyone that I'm pooped and we'll make that bread tomorrow and maybe the next day the boys really need a shower and tubs must be had. And so I manage to convince them that we will make bread the next day and do the snowflakes too.

But don't make a habit of this.

Megan will not forget. She is, in fact, keeping notes on what I have promised and there will come a time when it I either make good....or I am a monumental disappointment and pretty much, A LIAR.

So Sunday was the 23rd. We had early church and consequently had 8 hours to fill after we got home.

It was apparent that it was time to pay the piper.

So we....

1) Made holiday themed treats.

I want you to know that these would look way cuter if someone else from the mighty Pinterest community had made them.  They were, however, much less work than sugar cookies. And you know how I feel about that. Mmm...hmmm...  Snowmen with unusually large log-arms were an acceptable substitute.

2) Made Grandma Kathleen's braided bread. This is definitely one of my favorites and I am loathe to skip it.

This year I had each of the kids braid a loaf.

I can say with certainty that they failed to grasp the technique, but they will have many years of training to get it right. Never fear. There are loaves of braided bread in each of their adult futures. Or at least the guilt that accompanies the failure to to carry on the tradition. Either one works for me.

I'm a giver.

3) The kids got to wrap their gifts for each other.

There was much instruction on proper wrapping technique.

There was also a brief experiment with the wonders of tape-lips....

And the consequences of tape lips....

Think we are done catching up?

HA!

You have underestimated the extent of my procrastination and the detailed nature of Megan's list.

We proceed!

4) The Minivan express. This is a cute idea that I saw on the interweb and wanted to do last year but never managed to fit it in. The whole idea is that you print out these little tickets:

And then send the kids off to get their jammies on/ take showers or tubs/ etc. and you put these tickets on their pillows. You get hot cocoa and popcorn ready and put them in the minivan for each of them.  When you send them to bed, they find their tickets and they get to go "board" the minivan for a drive around the town to see the best Christmas lights.

My favorite part is the ticket punch.

Super fun.

(Don't forget to get cups with lids...open cups of hot cocoa in the car is a bad idea. Very, very bad.)

5)When we returned from the minivan express, it was time for our time honored tradition of Shepherd's Night. (Sleeping "under" the Christmas Tree)

This is family favorite we picked up from my sister, Lara. The kids were very tired and their bellies were full of hot cocoa. They actually went right to sleep. Which had the fortunate effect of allowing me to skip my other Shepherd's night tradition: threatening to send the kids to their beds if they don't be quiet and go to sleep. Ah well, I'm sure we'll do that one next year.

Deep breath. We're all caught up! Just in time for a lazy Christmas Eve Day.