Feeling Festive

Oh how I love this time of year!  The stockings are hung (we even made one for Milo), the tree is up, presents are wrapped, we have lights on our house, Christmas cards are out... our cookie jar is full, and our house is filled with Christmas music!

I love buying gifts for my family and making goodies for teachers, friends and neighbors.

 

We made sugar cookie kits for our neighbor gift.

 We took the kids to Snowflake Lane thinking this might be their only chance to see snow. 

 

 

My kids love buying gifts for everyone in the family and we've tried several different ideas over the years.  I love that they want to give and I want them to see the joy in giving, but it's hard to let everyone buy for everyone.  Four kids buying 6 gifts each is crazy, and expensive  Going to Target or Walmart was too hard because they all wanted to buy things that were out of the price range we gave them.  The next year we tried the dollar store- the price was right but sometimes you just plain get what you pay for.  We've tried making gifts and while that is a great idea, it's not their favorite.  One year I let them buy things at the school Santa shop and that was a huge mistake.  I couldn't believe the junk they came home with.  Finally we settled on the idea of having everyone draw one name.  We go out as a family and everyone picks out one gift for their person and then we all go out for ice cream. This works great and has become a fun family tradition. 

 

 This year we did our shopping at Bell Square after visiting snowflake lane.  We split up so everyone could keep their surprises.  Linsey and Hunter came with me.

 

 By the time we finished it was quite late so we settled for a quick snack and ice cream at McDonalds.  Jared and I aren't huge fans, but the kids think it's great!

The girls and I went to see the Nutcracker with some friends.   The younger girls all brought their dolls in matching dresses, the older girls had fun chatting and hanging out, and us moms enjoyed visiting and just loved spending time with our girls.  We went to to Olive Garden which is a step up from the usual place we take our kids (Red Robin).  Everyone loved the show and it was such a fun little outing.

I didn't have my camera, but I snapped this shot on my phone just before the show started.

Nothing makes it feel more like Christmas than SNOW!

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!