December in Review

It always amazes me how fast December flies by, but how much we can fit into it.  We had a lot of fun this month!

Kate had her preschool Christmas performance.

We did some Christmas crafts.

Kate and I had an impromptu night out just the two of us.

We made these little reindeer noses treats for Kate's preschool Christmas party.

We saw Santa at Bass Pro.

We had lots of lazy, PJ days watching Christmas movies.

We did lots of baking and made lots of messes.

We drove around a few times looking at lights, read lots of Christmas books, and made great memories at home.

Our Elf, Mac

We had fun with Mac the elf this year.  He seems to get sneakier and sneakier each year.

Every morning when the kids would wake up, they'd say, "Let's go find Mac."

Jack had a rough time observing the "Do NOT Touch" rule.  We read the book at our North Pole breakfast and I made sure I paid special attention to the part about not touching the elf (the book says it will cause him to lose his magic).

Apparently, it went in one ear and out the other. The morning after we put the tree up, Jack crammed Mac in the Christmas tree star box that was laying out and sailed him down the stairs.  Kate, of course, screamed, fearing the worst.  She said, "He lost his magic!".  So, I did what any mom would do... I had to think quick. I told them that the only way the elf would get his magic back was if the person who touched him did a special "jig", which Kate called a "jiggle" and I never corrected her because it made me laugh.

This was more for me than it was for them because, let me tell you, watching them follow my every move to bring that elf's magic (why do I keep wanting to type mojo??) back was hysterical.  I made them do silly moves while closing their eyes and wishing his magic back.  Then, Jack would have to say very slowly, "I won't touch the elf ever again.".  It was quite the process and too bad I didn't make a video because it would make your day watching how serious they were about the "jiggle".

I wish I had taken a picture of the elf every night but there were some night I just forgot.  I had to have an alarm go off every night on my phone to help me remember to actually move the thing.  I'm lucky I got ANY pictures.

So, here were some of Mac's adventures this month.

Elves love syrup! And I'm pretty sure they like hanging upside down, too.

Sneaky Mac drawing on the kids' pictures

Toilet paper on our little Christmas trees

Mac got into our milk and turned it blue!

He threw the stockings on the ground and replaced them with the kids' underwear! 

Kate loved waking up to this one! 

Super Mac!

Just soaking in a marshmallow bath

Hungry for some Cheerios

Going for a ride

Making a mess with the toothpaste (that's a BIG no no around here)

Mac spent his last day on top of our Christmas tree and then flew back to the North Pole until we see him again next year!

Christmas Parade

Our town does a "Down Home Christmas" early in December.  There are activities for the kids, a place to see Santa, and a parade at night.  We were already planning on going to the parade, but our neighbor asked us if the kids would want to be in the parade.  Turns out, he sits on a local board that had a float in the parade and he had asked a few of the neighborhood kids that all play together if they wanted to ride along.  Yay! They were soooooo excited!!

It was fun seeing them in the parade and they even made the newspaper!

My most favorite memory of the whole night was when Santa surprised Jack.  I'll just copy and paste what I wrote on facebook that night because it was still fresh in my mind:

Had to share this sweet memory from tonight. It will forever be in my mind, and I am sure I won't do justice to just how "magical" it really was. We were walking back from the parade and Jack and I were lagging way behind Mark and Kate because he was playing with a little flashlight he had gotten. Most everyone had already left, so the streets and sidewalks were almost empty. Jack was shining his little flashlight in all the store windows and along the brick walls as we walked, just taking his time. Santa and his crew were packing up across the street when Santa saw Jack looking in a window. This sweet Santa probably knew he could make a little boy's night, so he stopped what he was doing, crossed the street, and came up behind my little man. Jack turned around at the perfect time, and said, "Santa" in the sweetest little voice. Santa knelt down and held his hand and asked what he wanted for Christmas, asked if Jack was going to leave him milk and cookies on Christmas Eve, gave him a hug... it was perfect! And Mark and Kate turned around at just the right time to witness it all. So sweet!

These pictures are terrible quality, but all I had was my phone, and I was trying to snap as quick as I could so I wouldn't miss it. What a special memory.

North Pole Breakfast

Earlier this month, we wanted to do something special to bring out Mac, our Elf on the Shelf.  I saw the idea of a North Pole breakfast that was super cute! We were having a hard time finding a weekend morning to do it, so we ended up doing a North Pole breakfast for dinner.  It was so fun and just might have to be a new tradition!

Mark played in the basement with the kids while I got it all set up.  All of the printables were ones I found on the Internet, so this really took me very little time. 

Mac was sitting on the Elf on the Shelf book and each kid had a note from him on their plate. 

We ate reindeer pancakes, "snow topped" donuts, gingerbread muffins, "snowballs" (marshmallows), and the kids' favorite... sausage.

They wrote letters to Santa.

They got to open a present from Mac, which was a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas book.

We played a fun gingerbread man dice game.

The kids were SOOOO excited to see Mac again! We had A LOT of fun with him this month!! Pictures of Mac's adventures to come...