The 25 Days of Christmas: December 1 - Christmas Movies

I wanted to do an activity Advent calendar this year, but the more I thought about it, the more stressed I became. What if on a particular night it said to "drive around and look at Christmas lights," but both kids were cranky and ready for bed...or what if it said, "write a letter to Santa" but both kids were rowdy and not in the mood. I would constantly be changing/rearranging the activities...scheduled Advent activities did NOT sound like fun with a one year old and a three year old. I did, however, want to start a tradition of doing Christmas activities as a family and dedicating the month of December to time spent as a FAMILY, as well as teaching my children the true meaning of CHRISTmas. I wanted age-appropriate, fun, low-key activities...reading books, reading bible verses, talking about Jesus's birthday and what his birth means to the world, making homemade ornaments, cooking holiday goodies...SOOOO this is OUR 25 Days of Christmas. It may not be picture-perfect, and every day may not consist of something big...but every day we WILL do something together as a family and do something CHRISTmas related. I wanted to at least get a little Advent box or calendar to put little prizes or candy in for the kids... or even get one of the "old school" Advent calendars where you got to read a bible verse and eat the chocolate when you opened the little box each day, but we were all very sick the first week of December and I didn't get around to it. This year our Advent activities are fun, flexible, and family oriented!

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The first day of December Reid woke up with a temperature of 105. We went over to the clinic so Tricia and I could check him out...his ears were just slightly red, throat was fine, lungs were fine, no rash, no vomiting, no diarrhea...just fever. He got an antibiotic shot and we went home to rest. I've never seen him this "lifeless." He didn't get up off of the couch all day long and didn't even want to take his jacket off. So for our first Advent activity, we watched Christmas movies. Reid absolutely LOVES the Grinch this year! I love the movie too because now when I ask my kids where Christmas is, Reid replies, "in my heart." It was a great one to kick off the holiday season. No matter how old you are or how many times you watch it, it's always a great reminder that "maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Christmas, perhaps, is a little bit more." We also watched the movie, Elf, but Reid slept through most of that one. 

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