Christmas Kick-Off

With Thanksgiving being so early this year, it took forever for December 1st to come! As the boys get older, Christmas activities as a family are getting more and more fun and meaningful. Thanks to Pinterest I’m armed with an arsenal of wonderful crafts to do with Seth and Sam. Yesterday we kicked off Christmas as a family, and had a really great day.

We started by having Seth and Sam put up their newly created Christmas trees in their room. Using felt, I had cut out a tree and ornaments. Then the boys helped me decorate them with ribbon and glitter. I love this craft because it can grow and change with the boys as they get older. It also is so fun that they each can have a tree in their room to move the ornaments around whenever they want. Sam Seth Seth, Sam I was so happy to get a picture of them both in their superman pj’s…they are so cute and the boys wear them constantly!

After Sam and Seth decorated their trees, I made them dress up for Christmas card pictures. I intended to have us all dress up and take a family picture, but Ben apparently went to extreme measures to not have us in it by accidentally give me a huge fat lip in the morning (and this is why I usually get out of bed before the boys have their big wrestle-fest)! And in order to get my screaming deal via Shutterfly for cards, I had to get them done Saturday. So, just the boys are in Christmas card this year; I’m not gonna be a card spoiler, though, so none of those pictures will be posted today. They’re pretty cute though!

Ben had to go into work for a bit in the afternoon (thanks to missing 3 days from the stomach flu in our household). So he had the brilliant idea that I could meet him downtown with the boys for dinner. Thanks goodness for PF Changs! It is the perfect place to go for people with food allergies, and they take reservations…both pluses for our gluten free, small kid family. We ate a scrumptious dinner, and then even indulged in a bit of gelato and sorbetto for dessert at a cafe around the corner.

To end our night, we headed to Pioneer Courthouse square to check out the huge Christmas tree. Ben and I were thrilled to be out with Seth and Sam, making adventurous memories. We bundled up, and excitedly walked from our parking spot, showing the boys all the tall buildings. When we reached the square, our adventure went a little awry thanks to the Holiday Ale Festival that set up all their tents completely surrounding the special Christmas tree. Are you kidding me? There’s not even a pathway to the tree? Nope. Just ugly white tents all the way around the tree. Bust. Oh well. Ah the ambience of the Holiday Ale festival tents around the tree. Not to be dismayed on our adventure, we went to check out the decorations at the Pioneer Place mall. With 10 minutes to spare, we made it into the mall, admired the beautiful decorations hanging from the glass vaulted ceiling—and then headed to the bathroom because all toddlers need a potty break on an adventure. It was a very fun night and a great kick-off to the Christmas season. Sam Seth