Christmas Activities

We have been a busy little family!

It first began with our annual trip out to Murphy's Tree Farm the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We discovered this place 2 years ago, and have been fans ever since! It's only about a 20 minute drive from our house, though it feels like we're in the mountains :) Reminds me of picking out our tree at a tree farm when I was a little girl!

 I had some cute (longsleeve) Christmas shirts picked out for the kids to wear to the tree farm, but when it's 75 degrees, not to mention a Bama game day, you improvise.....

Greg found the winning tree!

Our 8 foot beauty (plus 2 cuties!)

Let's get this puppy home!

 We had a minor mishap on the drive home....the tree fell halfway off the roof. Greg was able to pull over and retie it. Apparently, it was an omen of things to come....



Sunday, the kids and I decorated the tree (as well as their small tree). It's literally one of my favorite days of the year because I get to look through ornaments from Christmas past, tell stories with the kids, and listen to Christmas music. The kids really got into it this year; made my heart happy! :)

 



It took me close to 8 hours to decorate the house & trees!!

Then, the next night, we came home from Nate's basketball practice, and Greg said "We need to fix the tree!" It was leaning to the right pretty bad. We decided we needed to take it out of the stand and possibly saw off the bottom of the tree to make it sit more level in the base. Greg starting scooping the water out of the tree stand, and I went into the kitchen. All of a sudden I hear "IT'S FALLING!!!!" And I walk in to see this:

I die.

 Luckily, a neighbor came over with a substantial saw to level out the trunk, while Greg went to Lowes to buy a more substantial tree stand. We were able to get it back upright and I took all the ornaments off; only 5 broke. The next day I took the lights off, put them back on, and then put the ornaments back on. Fun times! :)

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Christmas activities at school:

Each class gets to go to the school's Christmas Gift Shop, and kids are encouraged to bring their own money to buy presents for family members. (Most items are priced at $1). As luck would have it, Abby's class came to shop while I was working my shift on Thursday, and I was so happy to see this little blondie:

She spent $5 of her own money on gifts for me, Greg, Nate, Nanny & Poppy.
She made me step outside in the hall while she shopped for me! Ha!

Last Friday the 4th, Nate's class had his first field trip of the year.....to see The Nutcracker at the Bama Theatre. Though we was excited to see the play (and get out of school for two hours), he was ecstatic to finally ride the bus for the first time!!!! My poor, deprived private-school child.

He squeezed in the very front seat (safety first!) with his buddies Charlotte and Andrew

And they're off! How cute is he?!?!? :)

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Friday night after dinner, Greg took the kids to the Riverwalk's Tinsel Trail, where there are around 100 trees that local businesses have decorated.

Saturday, we went to a neighbor's house for the annual Downs Cookie Decorating party! This is a tradition that started 30+ years ago, where all the neighborhood kids get together & decorate ~100 cookies to be eaten at the neighborhood party the next night. So fun! (I'm such a sucker for tradition.)

The hostess, Maya, had quite a spread of snacks for the adult to eat.
And please notice all those beautiful cookies the kids decorated! They did awesome.

Later that afternoon, the kids decorated our gingerbread house. Whoever invented the pre-built gingerbread house is a damn genius!

Each kid got to decorate 2 sides of the house and half of the roof. I think it turned out pretty great! My favorite part was the "doormat" Abby made :)

Nate got a new kindle recently, and has had a ball learning how to use the camera. Abby is his favorite subject, of course. He asked me about editing apps the other day. (Stop growing up so fast, please!)

 

Sunday night, it was time for the neighborhood Christmas party!! Everyone brings an appetizer or beverage, and we hang out in the cul-de-sac for food & fun. And horse-drawn carriage rides of course!

I love love love seeing the streets lit up with luminaries.

Such a beautiful sight!

And it's always nice coming home to this beauty.....

fingers crossed it stays upright through Christmas!