Holiday Happenings, Week 2

You may have noticed that I love seasonal bucket lists over here. I love to plan out all the fun activities we want to cram into a few months (or weeks) and then cross those items off a list. However, you may have also noticed that we didn't do one for Christmas this year. I figure this season gets pretty hectic as it is so instead of putting any extra pressure on ourselves we're just going to wing it and see what happens. I have to say I think we're doing a pretty good job so far. Here's what we've been up to this week:

Ez and I have been crafting foam ornaments like crazy. I bought these on a whim at Michael's when the line was weaving halfway through the store and these were conveniently right there in the middle of the aisle. Impulse buying at its finest. I will say though that this is probably the best craft purchase we've gotten in a long time. Ez LOVES decorating the trees with little foam stars. In fact I had to go restock our foam star collection because he went through them all so quickly. He also loves helping me hang them on the bottom half of the tree, since they are a safer choice for Declan if he decides to eat anymore ornaments. But then, as soon as my back is turned Ez goes and collects them all off the tree so he can play with them. I find little stacks of foam ornaments all over the house. I guess they are his ornaments after all, so he can do what he wants with them. I've pretty much given up on the idea of having ornaments on the bottom half of the tree anyway.

Continuing on with our Christmas crafting streak Ez and I snuck in a gingerbread train decorating session while Declan was napping. Growing up I don't remember decorating gingerbread houses, but Ez and I did it last year and he loved it so we decided to keep up the tradition. The train was a bit more wobbly than I remember the house being, and if you were to take a peek back at last year's house you may have noticed a little bit more effort on mommy's part, but we had fun all the same and our slightly crooked train is now proudly propped up on our kitchen counter. 

One thing I was a little sad we missed out on last year was checking out all the Christmas lights. We just didn't know the area well enough to know where to look. This year we went to the same neighborhood we took the kids trick or treating and it did not disappoint. We decided to take an impromptu evening stroll and Ez loved pointing out all the candy canes and snowmen on what he calls "Christmas houses". Declan just stared transfixed for the most part, with a little "ahhhing" and pointing when a Christmas house was particularly Christmasy. I've said it before and I know I'll say it again, but this year with these two at these ages really is the best Christmas ever. Everything is magical and wonderful to them and seeing their eyes light up is my favorite part of pretty much everything. 

Obviously it's not really Christmas unless you've got your very own Christmas cactus:

In other festive news, we've been watching Disney Christmas shows on repeat (Ez is obsessed with all the Mickey Christmas shows, but especially the Huey, Louis, and Dewey one), wearing Christmas pjs as often as I can wash them, forgetting about our advent calendar and then eating three or four chocolates at a time, and Ez and Declan have thoroughly scoured every branch of the tree looking for any stray ornaments that I haven't safely moved to higher ground. Funny how they need my help to find shoes, lost toys, their water cup, and pretty much everything under the sun, but they can spot a green ornament on a green tree branch hidden all the way back by the trunk of the tree... Selective sight, is that a thing?

Hope you're all enjoying hot chocolates and Christmas lights and whatever else makes this season festive for you!