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.

Decorating the tree.

It's my favorite favorite.

The Gingerbread de Jour

This year we opted for a Gingerbread forest.

There are so many good things about this.

Sugar cones are cheap... broke your cone? Don't feel you achieved your maximum potential on that tree? Grab another! We've got spares!

There is very little teamwork involved. Every man for his own tree....I always say.

This will drastically cut down on fights and territorial behavior while having a memorable, fun-filled, bonding, family-strengthening, Christmas spirity, unforgettable activity.

Also.

No body is pressuring you to finish your side of the roof. It leaves plenty of time to formulate your master design plan.

Or maybe put frosting up your nose. Either way.

You can choose your own pace. Place each pearly sprinkle with care....

Or you can dump a variety on the plate and roll the tree for maximum crunch/sparkliness.

Then there's the obvious advantages.

Cones make excellent vehicles for sprinkle consumption.

Dump in the cone:

Dump in the mouth:

Best gingerbread activity ever.

And when all is said and done. Sugar cones with frosting and sprinkles taste WAY BETTER than stale gingerbread from the store.

And nobody minds if your runny nose get on it. It is your very own bugery tree.

THAT'S what Christmas is all about.

More Advent Calendar Newness

Another new one!

We had a candlelight dinner this year.

This was especially fun because all it took was candles and a flick of the light switch. Some people would have made a fancy dinner, but I'm not those people, so we had Skyline.

It didn't matter.

There was fire.

And because I love you all, here's are really flattering one of me...

We'll definitely do this one again next year.

Heck....I already bought the candles!

The Advent Calendar....2012

Time for Christmas posts....then we'll get back to the business of spring birthdays.

It is no secret that I love the advent calendar.

This year we are experiencing our old favorites as well as a few new activities that were added on a trial basis. Only if they prove to be fun and easy enough to execute will they be repeated next year.

Let's start with a new one!

This year we had our first ever musical family home evening.

It went much as you might expect....

Mathew started us off with a sweet rendition of 'Silent Night' at the piano.

My favorite part is when he took the opportunity to thank all his fans at the end of the performance and he gave a special shout out to Mom for teaching him the song earlier that morning.

I was touched.

Ethan kept up the magic of the night with a fantastic version of 'Angels We Have Heard on High' on the trumpet. It was very very high and and he rocked it.

Although I was afraid he was going to blow a major vein in his face. It was really high.

 Laney chose to sing "Stars Were Gleaming" AND play the silver bell ornament at the same time.

It was very vivacious.

I was there for moral support and possible prompting if lyrics were forgotten. Anna was there to show off her bedhead.

Mark did a jazzy performance of 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas' on the guitar. He is the leader of our family band...The Hufford Hooters.

Megan sang 'Angels We Have Heard on High', even though Ethan had already played it on his trumpet. There's something irresistible about those "glo-oooo-ooo-ria's".  She was a trooper and sang through a minor Anna-fit.

I say minor.

Because she saved the major fit for her own performance of "Tweentole, Tweentole".

It started out like this:

And before you know what was happening, it grew legs and mutated into this:

 I think the wind changed direction or someone crossed their legs... whatever it was. It was a serious offense and she was having NONE OF IT!

So, then it was my turn.

I dusted off the viola and started in on 'Away in the Manger'.

 But, you know Anna was in no mood to allow her mother to do anything besides give full attention to the screaming so....

Here is where Mark tossed the camera on the ottoman and removes the screamer to her room....

Here is where one of the boys picks up the camera to carry on....

And here is where he figures out that I'm upside down.

All in all, everything went just as I had hoped! Everybody did their thing and nobody got a bloody nose.

Oh.

And we had treats.

I think it's a keeper.

Family Photos...Donkey Hill

One of the great things about visiting at Sarah's house is the pictures.  She is a talented photographer...so naturally I asked her to take a few shots of us.

I was not disappointed.

We went up to Donkey Hill for a natural venue and we imagined what it would be like when they are living there full-time.  I admit! I was a little jealous!

I love how Sarah has the ability to capture a child's personality in her photographs.

This is a classic Ethan expression....and WHY WHY WHY didn't I take the time to get his hair cut before we did this?

Oh sweet Mathew.  I love his soft eyes.

Meggers.

Laneybug.

Annagator

Mark and a very pregnant me....(hello in there, Everly!)

And a couple more of my favorites...

True glimpse of parenthood....tissueless booger wiping.