A Little More Pre-Christmas Minutiae

Just a few more little details leading up to Christmas Eve...

My mom gave me this cute idea for a "thank you" gift for our babysitter.

First a handmade "card".

And a message.

And to go with the theme, we got her a gift card to Panera Bread and stuck it all in a cute bag with some yummy-smelling, Aveda hand and foot lotions.
On Tuesday last week, Will had his Christmas Party at school. He was so excited for his first gift exchange and to celebrate with his friends. He wore his Christmas sweater over a blue plaid shirt and some faded jeans and, though I know I'm a little biased, I thought he looked so cute!

That day after school, Will brought home a special gift from his teachers: a pillow case with a handprint angel and a special Christmas-y message.

Also on Tuesday night, we hurried through dinner, bath and jammies so that we could bundle up and pile into the car to drive around looking at Christmas lights.

We mostly stuck to the neighborhood across the street and one other house a couple miles away that is super elaborate and has their lights set to dance to music on a tuned radio station in your car. So fun! The kids kept saying "oooh" and "ahhhh".

A reindeer snack on Christmas Eve (peanut butter toast with pretzel antlers).

A quiet church activity prepared: a tiny chest with a latch, filled with red and green pom poms and an empty (dry) water bottle to poke them into. (Loads of fun for Sophia.) Plus I threw in some tongs to make it more challenging for Will. Didn't matter though... Christmas Eve mass was terrrrrrible!

A couple of Christmas Eve daytime activities since I had the whole day off with the fam:

A candy cane pattern craft.

Red-white-red-white pattern.

And gluing them all down.

Sophie's a tad young for this, so she played with her new puzzle from Grandma Konesky.

The finished product.

Project #2: a snowy Christmas Tree scene.

Placing some pre-cut shapes.

Gluing down.

Dotting on some white paint "snowflakes" with a q-tip.

Gluing down some red ornaments.

Meanwhile, Sophie discovered the awesome activity of lacing using Will's farm animal lacing toy.

Excellent fine motor work.

Finished product.

Check out our overflowing card tree! Thank you so much, everyone, for sending us greeting cards. We especially love seeing pictures of your cute families!!!

But this year's best non-photo-greeting-card award goes to my friend Jill with her sweet, little owl card. Don't you just love the colors? And you know I'm partial to owls. I love this card!

And isn't this new ornament from my mom so cute?

Okaaaay... get ready for a serious picture overload in the coming days.

We went to four parties in four days this weekend, not including our own Christmas morning at home. And you know I'm a "pathological picture-taker" as my sister-in-almost-law calls it. 406 photos were taken between the eve of the 24th until the eve of the 27th... just to give you an idea. I won't post them all, but I do need to warn you: they are seriously cute! Can wait to show you!