Brandon and Kristen: Christmas Activites

We got a head start on Christmas activities this year by putting up our Christmas lights before Halloween. We were worried that it would get cold and we wouldn't get a chance to put them up so when Brandon had a day off and it was nice out, we decided to put them up. Halle was an awesome helper and helped me put the clips on each light so that they are nice and straight. She really liked helping out however she could! Needless to say, we could've waited until December to put them up since so far it has been a mild winter...oh well, at least we can stay we were the first ones in the neighborhood to put them up!

We also got started on our Christmas shopping early since I wanted to have almost everything done before Blair came. Once again this year, we put together a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. We chose a 2-4 year old girl this year so that Halle could pick out things that she liked. Though it was hard for her to understand why she couldn't keep some of the things, she did a good job at "sharing". She even filled out a form about herself and colored a paper to send to the girl. I hope to do this each year so that our kids know that Christmas isn't all about getting their own gifts. We also sponsored two girls on behalf of Halle and Blair, in Paraguay through Serving Paraguay, so that they could get Christmas presents (see their pictures below)...they were able to get tennis shoes this year!

One Saturday while Erica and I went to the Mayo craft show, the boys took the girls to the mall to see Santa. It was the first day that Santa was there and we were so impressed that the boys waited in a huge line with three young toddlers (who probably didn't care that much) to see Santa. In fact, they were still in line (during the time the girls eat lunch) when we arrived. Halle didn't want to sit on Santa's lap but I was surprised how well she did with him.

Jon with Kylie, Chris with Annabelle, Brandon with Halle - the girls were tired and hungry but doing okay for their Dad's

A couple of days after getting home from the hospital with Blair, we went and picked out a Christmas tree with the help of Isaac and Lagaytha. Halle wasn't all that into picking one out (probably because it was cold out!) but once we got it inside, she was really into decorating it. Though most of our ornaments are on the bottom of the tree, I think Brandon and her did a great job decorating it! Halle loves looking at all of the ornaments and has a few favorites - the bbq, the tv and the little ornament that hides Hershey Kisses inside! In fact, the tv ornament was perfect when one night in bed Halle said "I not have stuff to do. I need a tv in here!". The tv ornament became the tv that she could have in her room...ha!

We also managed to make it to the Mayo Winter Carnival just a week after Blair was born with the help of Isaac and Lagaytha. I wanted Halle to be able to do some fun things since she had been cooped up for a bit with everything else going on. This time, she walked right up and sat on Santa's lap and asked him for a tv! She didn't seem to mind at all and in fact, she has asked since then to go see Santa at the Mall. Halle got to decorate a cookie, make an ornament, go for a horse ride and do some other fun Christmas activities/games. Plus, it was fun for her to see some of her friends too. Blair did great and slept the whole time in the stroller!

I made Halle an advent chain like last year to make sure that I was doing some activities with her in between of taking care of Blair. One activity was to write Santa a letter so Daddy helped her with this one. She did a great job and even colored Santa a picture. Today, we watched a video that Santa sent to Halle and she loved it and wanted to watch it again. She has been playing pretend Santa with her toys and is really into it this year! She asked Santa for a dollhouse. Santa told her in the video that she was on the nice list so I think she will be excited on Christmas morning!