Feeling the Christmas Spirit

We've been feeling the Christmas Spirit around our house. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to:

We started the month out right by getting our Christmas tree. Usually we cut our own, but Ben spotted a tree farm not far from our house with a camel. That pretty much sealed the deal so we went to Frog Pond Farm for our tree this year.

Visiting the animals

Meet Betty the camel. She is a BIG animal- the owner said she weighs 1,500 pounds and eats A LOT of food. I can only imagine. My kids were a bit afraid of her, but I think they liked it.

 Frog Pond Farm

 This place is just magical.

Free hot chocolate!

 You may remember from last year, but typically we get trees that don't fit in the car. This year Ben was ready and so proud of his ingenuity.

The tree in all it's decorated glory, before the kids tore it apart. It's like a big toy to them, which is okay, but I'm a little worried that we won't have any intact ornaments left for next year. Teddy's wrath knows no bounds, you know?

As a side note, see that tired man lying on the couch with a bowl close by? Right after we got home from the tree farm and set up the tree Ben started to throw up. He was SO sick- by far the sickest I've seen him in our marriage. He threw up all night and the next day too. I think it was just a bout of food poisoning because he was fine 24 hours later, but those 24 hours were bad ones. Poor Ben.

Another Christmas tradition we have is to make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and decorate them. This year we put Teddy to bed before we did said project because, poor boy, he doesn't know his own strength. I felt bad he missed out on the fun but also... he'll get plenty of years of decorating in once he knows not to smash all the things.

 Our finished products

Nayeli also dictated her first letter to Santa this year. Then, to my surprise, she wrote her name at the bottom for the very first time. She wrote the letters in the right order- she just didn't put them in the right order. Details, details. It was such a proud and exciting parent moment for me I didn't care.

Mailing our letters!

 Decorating felt ornaments with glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

One weekend Ben went camping with scouts and I stayed up until 3am sewing Christmas projects. Two of the projects I did were these Christmas pillowcases. Growing up my mom had special Christmas pillowcases that I always loved so I wanted to make some for my own kids. They each picked their own fabric- doggies for Nayeli and monkeys for Teddy. I used this tutorial to make them with the burrito method- a quick and easy method to make a pillowcase. I would highly recommend it.

It's been a great month and I think it's safe to say that we're ready for Christmas to come. Let's be honest- we've been waiting all year long for the magic this season brings.