Merry Christmas from our family to yours! The holidays can be a crazy, stressful whirlwind but filled with fun and sweet memories that last a lifetime. This year Bailey had requested more family time for Christmas so we decided to celebrate Advent with a family activity each day. There were some days we didn’t think we would make it, but we managed to fit it in and we couldn’t be more thankful that we stuck to it. These are the memories we will carry with us and the joy and laughter from the girls made all those late nights and no sleep worth it. Take a look at our 25 Days of fun:
Advent Day 1: Breakfast with the Fairy Princess
Our first activity of Advent was Breakfast with the Fairy Princess. We were supposed to go Thanksgiving weekend but Gigi was sick and couldn’t host it. This year the breakfast was moved to the City Market and we had so much fun. The girls went around telling all the other princesses that their dresses were beautiful, they made cute puppy crafts and waited very patiently to meet the Fairy Princess.
Sienna and Bailey were both so excited to meet the Fairy Princess and Sienna followed her around until they sat for the puppet show. We laughed at the puppets and shared some special sister time. We love continuing this tradition and hope to be there next year also! Special thanks to Rosemary for putting this wonderful event on every year!
Advent Day 2: Family Movie Day
On the second day we hit up one of the local theaters and saw Wreck It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet. The girls were so excited and did really well in the theater. We loved seeing all the Disney Princesses and would definitely recommend this movie!
Advent Day 3: Reading our Favorite Christmas Stories
We’ve collected several Christmas books over the last few years and it was a treat to get them all out again and read them together as a family. Our favorites were the Nutcracker, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and Fancy Nancy Christmas.
Advent Day 4: Hot Cocoa Tea Party
When you can combine the girl’s favorite activity: Tea Parties with one of their favorite warm drinks, Hot Cocoa, you know you’re going to have a good night. Luckily this was an easy activity because we had to make up preschool snacks for the week and I may have gotten a little carried away with the winter theme. Bailey also helped with her snacks and made cookies for our tea party!
Advent Day 5: Making Grandparent Gifts
Every year we try to make something for the Grandparents for Christmas. The girls love getting to be a part of the activity and coming up with a plan for the gifts. This year we decided to make Sun Cather Wind Chimes for Grandmas and Lego Photo Puzzles for Grandpas.
We made the Sun Catchers out of beads that we melted on the grill. The girls designed the patterns in the cookie cutters and muffin tins and Dad took them out to the grill to bake. Luckily the girls were inside when I noticed a fireball coming out of the grill when Dad opened the lid. Did you know that beads can catch fire? We didn’t but we sure do now. Good thing no one was hurt and nothing was damaged, well except a muffin tin full of beads that burned themselves completely out. Whoops! Though it was a minor setback, we were really proud of the end results.
Advent Day 6: Paulie’s Penguin Playground
Every year we love to go to Paulie’s Penguin Playground to dance with and look at all the Penguin blowups. It’s a few minute from our house and we always bring cash so the girls can make a donation to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. This year some of the penguins were damaged in the blizzard we had at the end of November, but they still had a lot t look at. I was diagnosed with bronchitis earlier that day, but that didn’t keep us from one of our favorite displays. Sienna and Bailey had so much fun dancing and playing with all the penguins!
Advent Day 7: Christmas Light Hunting
One of our favorite things about the holidays is seeing all the pretty lights. Every time we pass a house all lit up, Bailey and Sienna yell “Ho, Ho, Ho” and it has been a fun game this past month. On Advent Day 7 we picked up some hot chocolate and picnic food and went to see some of our favorite light displays.
A few of our favorites include the luminaries and lights at the Olathe Community Center, the light show at Deanna Rose, Christmas Place and a lot of neighborhoods in south Overland Park and Olathe. The girls had so much fun they passed out in the car on the way home.
Advent Day 8: Giving Back to Those in Need
Teaching the girls to give back to the community has been something we have been working on all year long. We try to make things for the city workers fixing our driveway, donating food and money to shelters and even shopping at local thrift stores where the money goes back into the community.
We wanted to show the true spirit of the holidays by donating old dog toys and towels to the Olathe Animal Shelter and clothes, toys and other household items to Goodwill and food to Harvesters. The girls loved collecting canned foods and old towels but had a little harder time deciding which toys they wanted to donate. We sat them down and explained that there are some people that do not have anything and that our donations would help bring a smile to their face. They quickly got on board and had a lot of fun dropping everything off at the local shelters and collection spots. We were really proud of them and the really enjoyed seeing the kittens at the shelter.
Advent Day 9: Celebrating Bubba Day!
The girls love their Bubba and since Day 9 fell on his Birthday we knew we had to make the day all about him. He got lots of extra snuggles, some of his favorite treats and a trip to the dog park to play with friends. It was a lot muddier than we anticipated and Tequila ended up coming home the cleanest out of everyone.
Advent Day 10: Snow Dough
When you have the chance to dig in and get messy, do it. We decided to try our hand at making snow dough and it started out way messier than we had anticipated, much to Bailey’s delight (Sienna – not so much). After a lot of mixing and some patience, it ended up coming together and made the perfect dough that both girls loved playing with and garnered lots of laughter. Our dining room may have looked like a flour bomb went off, but it was totally worth it!
Advent Day 11: Homemade Gingerbread Men
We love decorating Gingerbread Men – we’ve done Gingerbread Zombies, Gingerbread Princesses, Gingerbread Ninjas, but we’ve never made the cookies from scratch until this year.
I found a great recipe for soft gingerbread cookies and got to work. It didn’t smell the best when we were making the dough so I thought this would be a Pin-Fail, but after they came out of the oven, they smelled and tasted delicious! We made a ton so we packaged some up to give to Bailey’s teachers at school.
Then we got to decorating and made a gigantic mess with all the icing and candies, but had a lot of fun. It may have been a little ambitious to do this activity the night before we left for Kentucky, but at least we had a lot of yummy snacks for the road!
Advent Day 12: Family Christmas Roadtrip
We may have started out the morning with a trip to the pediatrician, but luckily we were able to catch an early ear infection Sienna had before hitting the road. We made it St. Louis (our halfway point) in great time so we got a chance to splash in the pool for awhile before dinner. The girls had a blast jumping in and pretending to be mermaids. Plus they fixed the heater in the pool and we got to swim both indoors and outdoors without feeling cold – not bad for December! Once we got back to the room after dinner, Trolls was on TV and we got to have a little chocolate cake while watching one of our favorite movies.
Advent Day 13: Christmas Shopping and Visiting Friends
We kicked off Day 13 with a yummy breakfast at the hotel before vising the Galleria in St. Louis to do some Christmas Shopping for loved ones. The girls even got to stop at the Disney Store and they both picked out a Woody Doll to take with them on the our trip.
Then we hopped in the car and make the rest of the trip to Kentucky. We stopped at Power Truss to visit with Uncle Brad and Ms. Lynne and to play with Sammy before making our way to Grandma and Grandpa Schorr’s house.
Advent Day 14: Spreading Holiday Cheer with Friends and Family
We spent all day spreading holiday cheer and visiting friends and family. We took Nala for a monster hunting walk with Grandpa Schorr at a local park, stopped by the local high school to see Grandma Schorr over her lunch break, had lunch with the Graniers, stopped and saw the Bassett Hounds at the Peebles and then relaxed for a bit before watching the Bison play. The girls decided to give eachother tattoos and Bailey surprised Grnadma and Grandpa by decorating their room and inviting them over to her party.
Advent Day 15: Celebrating Christmas with the Schorrs and Bell Ringing
Saturday was a crazy busy day filled with fun. We had lunch with Unlce Brad and then met up with Grandma and Grandpa Schorr to do a little Bell Ringing for the Salvation Army. The girls had a blast ringing the bells and wishing everyone Merry Christmas.
Then Uncle Matt, Amanda and Cal came over and we opened gifts, ran the kids around for a bit, played games and had dinner before they had to go back home. Trying to get a picture with all three kids wasn’t the easiest, but we tried! The girls were obsessed with the dresses Granny got for them and have worn them once a day since we’ve been home. We also got to see Uncle Tyler for a bit after he flew in for training.
Advent Day 16: Pajama Road Trip Home
We got started on our road trip home super early and made it home before noon. We had lots of time to snuggle and rest up from our fun trip!
Advent Day 16: DIY Snow Globes
The girls love snow globes but we have a tendency to smash them within seconds of holding them, so we decided to make plastic snow globes that the girls can play with all year round. plus, any chance to play with glitter is awesome!
Advent Day 18: Gingerbread House Competition
Another one of our favorite traditions is decorating Gingerbread Houses with Gigi, Pop Pop and Uncle Mat. We can be pretty competitive about this and we always end up laughing because Gigi’s house always manages to fall apart. It was a little hectic this year because I decided to build a project for Christmas and enlisted Pop Pop for some major help (I owe him big time…and Gigi for watching the girls). More on that project to come.
Advent Day 19: School & Dance Parties and Bowling Night
Day 19 may have been the busiest one yet (and with the least amount of sleep). We started the day with a holiday party at Bailey’s school filled with dancing, gingerbread houses and playing outside on the playground. Sienna jumped right in on the fun with the big kids and had a blast.
Next up was the holiday party at dance! We got to go in early to watch their performances and Sienna also got to run around for a bit. It was Dad’s first time seeing the Mini Company performance and with only 2 practices under her belt, Bailey is doing really well!
And if that wasn’t enough, we took the girls to Main Event for a bowling party! Bailey and had so much fun rolling the balls down the lane and we only dropped the ball once.
Advent Day 20: Holiday Baking
We spent the morning doing some Christmas shopping with Uncle Mat (thank you!) and then came home to spend the rest of the day baking cookies and candies to take to coworkers, family, neighbors and friends. Bailey has gotten quite good at the mixing and Sienna is starting to get the hang of it too!
Advent Day 21: Christmas Carol Dance Party
Day 21 was chock full of last minute Christmas shopping, including a trip to Bass Pro where we ran into (or rolled into) Mrs. Clause. I wasn’t sure if we were going to get our dance party in but we decided to get out and dance in the parking lot. It may have been cold, Sienna may not have been wearing pants because she spilled chocolate milk on them, but we still had fun dancing under the moonlight.
Advent Day 22: Plaza Lights
There is nothing quite like the Plaza Lights at Christmas. It was a beautiful night to walk around and look at the lights. Then we headed over to Winstead’s for some dinner and a Skyscraper milkshake! Yum!
Advent Day 23: Pillow Fort Movie Night
After a day of more last minute Christmas shopping without the girls (thanks Gigi & Pop Pop) we built a pillow fort and got out our pop up tent to watch Small Foot. It was a cute movie and gave us a much needed break from the chaos.
Advent Day 24: Christmas Eve Homemade Alfredo, Gifts and Cookies for Santa
Every Christmas Eve for the last several years we have made homemade alfredo, starting with homemade pasta noodles. Then we open one gift each and make and set out cookies for Santa. This year was no different except it was a lot more chaotic and the girls seemed determined to get on the last minute naughty list. Luckily after a few Christmas books they went down for bed fairly easy and Santa was able to deliver the gifts.
Advent Day 25: Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas! We may not have gotten any sleep last night (thanks, Sienna) but we got up and went to Gigi & Pop Pop’s house to open gifts with Uncle Mat, and Great Aunt Carol & Janet. The girls were a little wired when we got there but ran out some energy before we started opening gifts. They had a lot of fun with the Moose Ear Ringtoss, the Naughty and Nice Jelly Beans and the Duck Shoot game.
After lunch we went home and opened gifts from the family and Santa. Then we surprised the girls with a gift that we’d been working on for the last week or so, a coffee table with a hidden Fairy Village inside. They loved it! We will share more on that later.
It may have seemed hectic and crazy at times but I am so glad we decided to do the Family Advent Activities this year. It was fun watching the girls get excited to open a chain and read the activity for the day. It also forced us to slow down and enjoy the moments with the girls and each other.
It doesn’t seem possible but we have a few more photos to share including a trip to see Santa, our annual Crown Center / Union Station visit and a work holiday party.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours and have a wonderful New Year!
