The holiday season is always so much fun and so, so busy. The pictures I am sharing today should have been shared through several posts but time got ahead of me. Story of my life.
Since having children I have really found a new sense of joy during the holidays as I watch this time through my children's eyes. They bring so much fun, love, and joy to everything we do. Life is just so much more full when you are watching a child experience the world. Here are some things we were up to during December:
For starters, we saw Santa.
Payton was very excited to see Santa and couldn't wait to tell him all about the Dora night light she had been eye balling. Riley, despite our attempts to prepare him before the visit, was not feeling the love for Santa. In his defense, I could have timed our trip better. He was in desperate need of a nap!
As a role model, I am constantly trying to be a more giving human being. The holidays are a great time to practice this goal. We "adopted" a child from one of our local organizations and bought them a gift. Payton helped pick the child, selected the gift herself, and both kids helped wrap and deliver the present. They were so proud!
I didn't think Payton would do well actually dropping off the present since that can be a hard concept for a 3 year old to understand. She handled the situation well though and had no issues. We love this tradition and can't wait until we do this again.
In November, I started to take the children to volunteer at a local assisted living center. We were assigned to a resident and have been visiting her weekly. My kids have loved these visits and I love watching them bond with another human being.
A local group decided to deliver cards and flowers to residents of the nursing home to help them feel loved and cared for. Payton handmade several cards to be delivered to residents and a few cards for our close friends and family members. We also helped the group deliver the cards and flowers and it was so fun to watch Payton with the residents.
Grandma came to visit one weekend and brought several crafts for Payton. She made tree ornaments and snowmen ornaments. We have given a few out to friends as we see them and saved a few for family members to receive when we see them next.
Each year I try to plan for a baking day. This can be challenging to do as I really need a whole day and it always seems someone is ill. We happened to have a good, healthy day last weekend so we baked until we had no more clean dishes in the house.
The kids had a blast cooking and creating. We are in the process of making up goodie trays and we will deliver our homemade treats to several people in the community, close friends, and family members. This is just an extra way for us to say thank you for being involved in our lives.
Christmas is now less than a week away. I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season! Merry Christmas.
