Cookies with Santa, Santa Letters and More

Another fun tradition that our elementary school does is "cookies with Santa" and we've been attending this for years. This year was the first year back since covid and it was busier than ever. 
Basically you get a number to hold your place in line to see Santa, and then while we waited you do other activities. So we decorated cookies, making reindeer food and talking with friends. 

This Santa is the cutest and always talks with kids. We love him!

A couple of days later we went to the Bentonville square and mailed Santa letters. 

We also had to get a picture by the Bentonville tree and Santa's sleigh. 

We've been taking pictures in this sleigh for years and I love it. 

Usually the sleigh is decorated better, but they are moving the 5&10 store and so it wasn't decorated like usual. 

Benson was so excited to mail his letter. It was pretty cute. 

I love these pictures so much!

Then while Dad was gone to drill this last weekend, we went to Hobby Lobby to get a few more decorations and we ended up getting nutcrackers for everyone. Since Bailey and I didn't get to see "The Nutcracker" ballet this year, we decided to watch one of the movies. Since none of us had seen "Nutcracker and the 4 realms" we watched that and it was weird but fun. 
We drank delicious hot chocolate and watched our movie and had a fun night together. 

That night Benson and Tucker slept in the little fort they had made. It was pretty cute!

I really love Christmas time and how it makes me be intentional with our time, 
I have to intentionally plan stuff to make time for it and that makes us spend more time together. I love it!

 

Nativity & Noel and North Polar Express

We got to go to one of our favorite holiday events this last weekend. Our stake always puts on this amazing "Nativity & Noel" and they display hundreds of nativities from around the world. Then there is always a live nativity too. We enjoy it every year and this year was no exception. 

 

We walked all around looking at nativities and we loved so many of them. I really loved the nativities that were authentic to their area. It was so fun. I love seeing how different countries depict the birth of Christ. 

So we did the "Nativity & Noel" on Friday night and then on Saturday we had a very full day. 
 I went to a baby shower and then we went over to our neighbors', the Ryes, and did some Christmas crafts, played some games and ate delicious Christmas snacks. They just moved in a few months ago and our kids play all the time, so we decided it was time to hang out and get to know each other better. 
It was really fun. 

Then Saturday night we went to the "North Polar Express". It's a really cool Christmas bus that is decorated like a train. Then it takes you on a ride and it plays the "Polar Express" movie. It plays the scene when the train is slipping on the ice and and the bus drives like its turning and slipping. It feels so immersive and we were all laughing and screaming. 

We had to wait for about 30 mins inside this tent but then we got to board the train/bus. 

It was so cute. When we got to the front of the line they gave us these golden tickets. The kids were so excited!

  

And then the train pulled up and we had to get a picture. I just think it's so cool how they decorated the bus to look like a train. So fun!

 

After the bus/train ride, we ended at the North Pole. We walked through this snowy area and then got to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was so cute. They gave the kids each a bell, like the on "Polar Express" and they got a cookie and hot cocoa. 

 

We had  a great time!

I just love all these fun Christmas activities. We've had so much fun this month already!

Kindergarten Gingerbread Houses

One of my favorite things about having a kindergartner is getting to do gingerbread houses. It's a tradition that I've enjoyed since Tanner started Kinder back in 2015. I love it and I'm a little sad that this was my last time. 
Benson loved having me there with him and he took decorating his house very seriously. 

A lot of the kids were eating their candy, but Benson wanted to use his only for decorating. 

  

 

He was very proud of the finished product. I love this little cutie. 
And I love that the kindergartners got to wear pajamas for this. There are few things I love more than Christmas pjs on my youngest. 

Also, I love that Benson's teacher is always taking pictures. It makes my heart happy to see the photos she posts on our class page and I love that she documented the parents getting to spend time with their kinder buddies. 

 

I had a great time and so did Benson. I'm so lucky that I am a stay at home mom with the time to attend school events like this. I'm definitely staying busy while all my kids are in school, but I will always make time for this kind of stuff!

 

Don't Be a Grinch, Light the World!

Today we kicked off the Christmas season with our traditional "Light the World" kickoff and we welcomed back our Elves. 
This year our theme was "Don't be a Grinch, Light the World" and I kind of loved it. It was so fun to decorate and I really loved the "Grinch" balloons.

 

We had pancakes, sausage, little powder sugar donuts and grinchy hot cocoa. 

I really love the grinch cups and so did Tucker. 

We had a great kick off breakfast and I'm pretty excited for all the opportunities to light the world this Christmas season. Stay tuned for some more holiday fun!