Our December Frenzy

    December is always a very busy time but ESPECIALLY for us. See, a week after Thanksgiving we celebrate my birthday then three weeks later is Christmas AND a week after that is Landon's birthday!! And for the first time we are throwing him a big birthday party with lots of friends so we've really upped the ante for ourselves.

   Despite being overwhelmed at times getting everything ready and all the commitments that come with the holidays, we're still in the Christmas spirit. Even Dale has gotten into it this year eagerly decorating the front of our house like never before. Here's our month so far:

I made my first chalkboard art, a Bible verse inside a cChristmastree (this is the unfinished version). When most kids were afraid of the zipline at the Kid's Gym, Landon cracked everyone up with his one-handed thumbs up move. We ran into Santa at Home Depot and snapped a quick pic. And we sat down for a proper family gingerbread house building session. We put the finished gingerbread house on Landon's dresser in his room to admire, and while we were gone our dog, Ashton, ate parts of it off!

There was an arts and crafts festival at the Marketplace by our house that included an awesome setup of inflatables for the kids to bounce around on. 

We hauled our annual Christmas tree home from the lot to decorate. I don't think this year's tree quite tops last years. Landon was a great help putting ornaments on and was dancing around to Christmas music in his Christmas onesie! 

We had the best family date night one evening having dinner at Claim Jumper then going to see the Christmas performance at the Gaslight Theater. (A comedy dinner theater that puts on the funniest shows). We were nervous Landon wouldn't want to sit through the show but he LOVED it, so much so he insisted we stayed till the very end at almost 11 oclock!

A downpour of rain didn't stop us from waiting 45 minutes totally drenched for the annual Oro Valley Christmas Parade to start. They always have such a great parade with local organizations handing out candy to the kids along the way and Santa on a firetruck in the end. Having NO idea how hard it was going to start raining I didn't wear a waterproof coat or have a suitable umbrella for the rain. I found this tiny purse one in the truck and Landon quickly broke it leaving us with no umbrella. By the time the parade got to us we were freezing and I could have ringed out the water from my soaked through jacket and tshirt. When is came time to leave our truck tires got stuck in the mud where we parked. It was an adventure!

Landon and his classmates at school put on the most darling Christmas program! They had 14 songs/bible verses to sing and all the audience was blown away how well they did! Landon only attends school 2 days a week and told me over and over before the show he didn't remember "his songs" so I didn't have high hopes for this but his teacher deserves an award for what she managed to get 26 three year old's (who mostly attend part time) to do. We also made time for a family hike down to the wash just after it rained to do some exploring. 

Bob and Winnie invited us to go with the to the Church of Nazarene's FABULOUS Christmas show. This church must prepare all year for this spectacular show where lines to get into it are hours long. They have snow come down several times during the show and outside when your leaving. It was AMAZING. 

Our elf on the shelf has been busy, making elf sized pancakes for breakfast, dressing as superman hanging from the ceiling, even decorating Landon's playroom with tons of homemade paper snowflakes overnight! This is our first year with elf and although it totally thrills Landon, I have a huge appreciation for parents who do it and keep it exciting. It is so much work!

I can't wait for Christmas morning to see this little angel's face when he see's presents. We don't take one of these moments for granted, they are so precious!