Gingerbread Houses

I've been trying to be as festive and Christmas minded as I can this year, mostly I've been trying to do all the traditional Christmas activities. So for Family Home Evening this week I thought we could make some Gingerbread houses, (which in reality ours weren't all that traditional since they were made out of graham crackers, not gingerbread). Regardless, it was a lot of fun and the kids, especially Ellie, really enjoyed themselves. I think that she did as much eating as she did decorating, and by the end she was mixing everything she could find with the remainder of the royal icing into a new creation of "Gingerbread Soup."

Thomas was just happy to be playing with the box and glad to be snacking on the occasional candies.

In the hopes of building the biggest house on the block, Heath's house had a few structural issues. We all had a great time and what a wonderful blessing to spend time with our family. No matter what Christmas brings from year to year, it's so easy to see what the Lord has blessed us with and why we celebrate the birth of our Saviour.

Christmas Parade

It is still strange to me that any town would have a Christmas parade, only because if anyone tried to put on a Christmas parade in Idaho, no one would show because it would be like 5 degrees below zero and in the middle of a blizzard or something. Regardless, it is a very fun tradition that I've enjoyed here in Big Spring. We bundled up on Saturday evening and had a great time enjoying the parade with Janie and Rayford. The kids loved it and it was another great activity help us enjoy the Christmas Season.

Breakfast with Santa

The Heritage Museum in town was putting on a new annual event of "Breakfast with Santa." You could bring your kids and have a doughnut and juice, get your face painted, and visit with Santa and Mrs. Clause. Of course both Ellie and Thomas were very unsure of Santa and Mrs. Clause. Ellie wouldn't even talk to them, look at them, or pose for a picture. Thomas just stared at them, although Mrs. Clause was able to bribe him with the goody bag for a quick picture.

There were lots of beautiful trees that the community and different organizations have put together for display. All Thomas wanted to do was pull of every single ornament off of every single tree.

The face painting was also sort of frighting event for
Ellie. I made Thomas go first so that she could see that there was no harm.

She was very brave and was quite the little trooper. And in the end she was so proud of the little angel on her face.

Let it Snow!

Friday morning we woke up to a little bit of a surprise; SNOW!!! For Big Spring, Texas this was a big deal. And for a certain little 3 year old it was an especially big deal. Ellie and Thomas had quite a wonderful time playing in the snow. Ellie was quite the little explorer and wanted to stay out all day, she kept saying "Help me make a snowball fight!" Thomas on the other hand was happy to be outside for a while but wasn't quite sure about all the cold. I have to say it really makes it feel like Christmas time when the weather is a bit colder. It really was a nice surprise for an Idaho girl.