Christmas Tree For The Animals

We have been talking about making a Christmas tree for the animals since the end of November. Finally, I got everything we needed and let the kids make peanut butter covered pine cones dipped into birdseed. It was quite messy but fun. Stringing the popcorn and cranberries was a little more difficult for some of the kids -- especially threading the needle, but they all seemed to enjoy it. I figured Sarah would not want to string the popcorn and cranberries as she usually doesn't like to do things that involve fine motor skills, but she really enjoyed stringing and actually asked me to let her do another one after her first was done. 

Bella just sat and watched, but really wasn't that interested in anything except playing in the birdseed. 

Then we went outside to hang everything in a tree -- we chose a small one so they could reach the branches easily. 

Getting Ready for Christmas

Seems like time is flying by and I don't have time to do all the things I really want to do. I had such big plans and ideas and it seems like I won't have time to do everything. I am trying to just relax and enjoy. We got our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, as usual. Didn't take long at all as the vote was unanimous pretty quickly. We got it home and up immediately but still only have lights on it -- no ornaments yet. It has only fallen once and then Bill wired it up so hopefully it will stay put. 

Looks like somebody doesn't care about getting a Christmas tree!

We have been reading an advent book and also have been opening a calendar door of our advent calendar each day. We have really enjoyed reading the book each morning and this year I actually have done it every single day.  

We have read quite a few Christmas books so far and one of our favorites is The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle. It is a quick read but a really sweet book. We buy at least three or four new Christmas books every year and have baskets and baskets of books all over the house right now. The kids love to go through the baskets and pick out a book to read -- actually makes for some very quiet afternoons. 

Christmas Tea At The Jefferson Hotel

On December 2, we started off the Christmas season by attending tea at the Jefferson Hotel. This is a tradition that we have had for many years. I only take the older girls  -- something the little ones look forward to being able to do one day. This year several of my girls could not attend as they were at school and my oldest daughter had a prior commitment. We accidentally made reservations on the same day as the tree lighting at the hotel. This is a pretty big deal here and the hotel is filled with people attending the ceremony and having hot chocolate with cookies. So, the tree was not lit while we were having tea and we were not allowed to walk up and down the stairs as we usually do. Part of the ceremony was to have characters dressed in Christmas themed costumes come down the stairs. So, we had to stay upstairs and not walk around the hotel. My grandson was allowed to go even though he is a boy and this is a "girls out" time for us -- but, only because he is 6 weeks old. I don't think he enjoyed it that much because he slept just about the whole time. 

Instead of a gingerbread house they displayed Santa's Sleigh  -- made from gingerbread and lots of candy. 

I am so glad that the hotel continues to put up the nativity scene every year. It is a really beautiful set. 

When we were finished and just sitting around trying to decide if we would stay for the other festivities, the girls came to clean off our table. Sarah and Caroline jumped up and started helping them clear the table and clean everything up. The girls were very nice and let them help. When they were all finished, they brought two very large cookies to Sarah and Caroline as a reward for helping -- so very nice of them. 

After the table was cleaned and we were standing around talking, my friend brought to my attention that Sarah must be tired.