Black Friday Kick Off
Before kids Black Friday was our official first day of the Christmas season. For 2 or 3 years in a row we did some early Black Friday shopping, came home and decorated inside and out for Christmas, followed by Christmas Vacation that night. It was a marathon day, but we had a lot of fun and it was really nice to get everything done in one shot. We've actually been able to stick to it with the exception of Black Friday. No way. Thankfully they took really good naps that day so we got all our decorating done and even watched Christmas Vacation. (Although BJ fell asleep halfway through, so I use the term "watch" loosely.)
Advent
Well, this one didn't really happen in any formal sort of way. But shortly before Christmas we started reading our new Christmas books from the Clarks that map out the Christmas story. The boys listened intently and Blaine even knew to blow Baby Jesus a kiss at the end.
Bake cookies
Eh...BJ and I did this. I had visions of giving the boys a sugar cookie with a little icing in a bowl and let them play with it. But as it were, it turned out to be a very cranky afternoon and I didn't see it going well. So we just did it after they were in bed. Maybe next year.
Visit Santa
I wasn't sure this one was going to happen this year. We were planning on waiting to go with the Rices when they were in town this year, but Blaine ended up getting really sick while they were here. We had already had plans to go to Bass Pro on a Wed. night and then eat at Jason's Deli after. I had hoped if we got there early enough we could beat the crowd (yes, I was willing to drag poor Blaine), but BJ went it and found out we would have a 90 minute. No way. So we just did dinner (not fun) and I was ready to just write it off for the year. I knew they wouldn't care, but I also knew there would be a little gap in our yearly photos of Santa. So we decided to try one more time and it worked out best to be the last Saturday before Christmas. I thought we were probably nuts, but we got there 30 minutes before Santa opened and BJ was going to run in and get us a pass for the first slot. But he found out they had opened early and we could get right in! So we did! They boys freaked at first (mostly Pierce), but then he spotted the electric train next to them and they calmed down and ended up fairly neutral. Since it wasn't crowded yet we even got to ride the carousel and look at the other toys. So fun!
Dinner on the Plaza
Umm, fail on this one. Oh boy... We definitely tried though. We had it all planned to meet my parents at 5:00 at the Cheesecake Factory. I was certain it wouldn't be too crowded since it was so early. We got a later start than we intended due to long naps and got there right at 5 only to find out that the wait was already 2 hours. I was shocked. We couldn't even find a parking spot anywhere. So we headed back to Olathe and ended up at Houlihans for a rushed, cranky dinner. I felt really bad for my parents, but they were very gracious about the whole botched thing. Maybe this will be a post-Christmas event next year.
Christmas Eve Gift
This was easy since we do the Rice Family celebration at my mom's on Christmas Eve. They got to open a whole slew of gifts that night and they had a ball.
Christmas Eve Movie
Too young and I realized that this may not happen due to the new Christmas Eve Rice dinner. We'll see...
Craft for grandparents
Last year we made salt dough hand print ornaments and this year I found the idea of homemade photo coasters on Pinterest. I just bought 13 cent tiles at Home Depot and mod podged photos right on them with some felt pads on the bottom. They turned out really cute!
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