December Fun: Christmas Lights and Other Activities!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, this December has looked a bit different than Decembers of the past. However, even though we haven't been doing a lot of Christmas crafts and baking, we have managed to squeeze in some of our traditional outings and activities. 

One thing we love to do is spend an evening looking at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music in the car. I knew I wouldn't be able to spend hours riding around in the car (it hurts my back too much right now!), but it ended up working out just fine because the kids lose interest after too long anyway. Chris and I were sure to set an evening aside for this outing, and he (all on his own) even made a cd of Christmas songs for us to listen to! He later said, "Hon, you've warped me because I just made a themed cd for our car ride!" Ha! 

I wasn't the only one excited about the festive music!!!

I asked the kiddos who was ready to see some Christmas lights . . . 

We were all pretty excited :-).

Our first stop was actually for some dinner before we went Christmas light looking. No one could think of what sounded good to eat (except Bren who suggested McDonald's), so I finally chose McAlister's. I've been off my McAlister's kick some, but not completely.

Pregnant Momma wanted some cheesecake. It was yummy!

Of course, I shared!

Bren really enjoyed it, but I don't think Brianna was a huge fan.

We spent just under an hour driving around and looking at lights.

We were able to see some great displays and had a nice family evening!

I thought this year would also be a fun time to do a Christmas countdown of some sort with the kids. I found this free printable on Pinterest and thought it was perfect! Each day, starting with December 1st and leading up to Christmas Day, the kids glue a cotton ball on Santa's beard. They have loved it!

One week we checked out a book from the library about a mouse decorating her home for Christmas. She made paper chains to decorate her tree, so we decided to do that, too. I'm pretty sure Brenson's favorite part was using the stapler to attach the chain links together. He almost got my finger once or twice! We decorated our paper chains with Christmas stickers and they are hanging on our tree.

Miss Shelly has Christmas themed classes in December, so we have enjoyed those! The first December class was all about candy canes (but I don't have any photos), then we did a class that was reindeer themed.

Playing Pin the Nose on the Reindeer:

Brianna got closer than the child before her!

Bren pretty much refused to wear the blindfold, so he hit the target!

Cute reindeer craft:

We also attended her Polar Express class and got to wear our Christmas pjs! The kids thought this was fantastic! See the jar Brianna is holding in the photo? We made jar treats for several of our friends this year. Miss Shelly's jar had puppy chow that the kids made with Daddy in it. In some of the jars we did for others, we put pretzels covered in almond bark. So, there has been just a bit of Christmas baking going on :-),

Miss Shelly busts out the ever-popular parachute once in a while. During the Polar Express class, she had the kids try and keep little golden bells in the center of chute.

They were having a blast!

Of course, we've done lots of posing in front of our {slightly pitiful} Christmas tree dressed in our Christmas-themed clothing. I was 31 weeks pregnant in this photo. 

We tried really hard to get Bren to pose with Brianna this day, but he wasn't having it. She looked so cute, though!

However, on this day, he was much more cooperative!

My handsome boy:

Brianna is finally at an age where it is fairly easy to get good photos of her. Finally.

My little lady is growing too fast!

Sometimes, Chris and I both get frustrated with trying to get the kids to look at the camera and give a good smile and sit still so it won't be blurry and not have their hands in some weird pose . . . and then I get a photo like the one below and I think, "Yes! That was worth it!"

One thing that we've done quite a bit more of this year than is years past is watch Christmas movies. A favorite in our house this year? How the Grinch Stole Christmas! This day, we were having an indoor picnic for lunch and watching The Grinch.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is also our favorite book this year (especially Brenson's). I love reading with my littles!

And I love that you can see all four of them in this photo :-).

Most of the time, they don't sit on my lap to read right now. It's too uncomfortable for me. The kids wiggle too much, and honestly there's just not that much room for them anymore. However, they love to sit across from me and share a blanket with me while we read. Chris snapped this photo, and it's one of my favorites with the Christmas tree in the background!

We also attended two small holiday parties (one at my sister's house and one at church), but I don't have any photos from them. My sister has photos from her little party, so when I get them I'll add them in this post. 

It's certainly been a low-key December, but kind of great in a lot of ways! I do wish that I had energy for more of our traditions, but I know that this is just a passing season. We've embraced what I can do right now, and spent lots of time at home as a family. Who can complain about that?!?

What are your favorite December activities?