O Tannenbaum

The last month of the year arrived quickly and with that our tradition of opening our Advent calendars,which came all the way from Germany (Thank you, Opa!). The kids were so excited and giddy to get that first piece of chocolate out:

Additionally, on December 1st each year, we celebrate our cat's birthday. Surely, she could do without the party hat but she loves the extra treats and her new box of catnip. Happy 8th birthday, Indy!

Me and my birthday cat:

Amelia's teacher also made stockings for each student and every day, if their behavior is above the line, they get one treat (think pencils, erasers, crafts, etc) for their stocking. It looks awfully cute and the kids are excited about filling them up:

It was also time to take down the fall door decoration at school and so Amelia and I put together a Christmas door design. This little girl did an awesome job helping me make those paper chains and was so proud to show it to the other students:

On Saturday morning, our Elf on the Shelf, Eli, showed up in our house and brought us a traditional breakfast from the North Pole. Lots of sugar, candies and cute new drinking cups: 

This was also the day, we put up our Christmas tree. It was the perfect morning to do so as it was nice and cold out. So we bundled up and went to our local hardware store to pick out the perfect tree. 

 

After nap time, we all decorated our Tannenbaum:

And voila, the finished tree: It may be more colorful than I would normally prefer but it is pretty nonetheless and the kids love it, which is most important. Elliot was most happy about the train under the tree. 

 

While the boys stayed at home and watched football that night, I took Amelia to a local high school to watch Elf the Musical (based on the movie Elf). The students did an awesome job (especially the boy who played Buddy) and adults as well as kids enjoyed the show. My girl and I savored spending one-on-one time with each other (she sat on my lap for over an hour!) and I think I found someone who will enjoy watching Elf with me over and over again. 

The weather was pretty frightful today and instead of going to watch our town's annual Christmas Parade, we all sat on the couch together, drank hot cocoa and watched a Christmas movie while the fire warmed us. Wearing pj's all day long and having a low-key day was just what we all needed before another full week is upon us. I hope you all enjoyed this 2nd Sunday of Advent as much as we did.