Well, I admit by the middle of the month I was pretty exhausted by everything happening, both in and out of home, but we did get to continue our Advent fun almost every day. Not all were picture-worthy, but here's a sampling of the end of our month:
Zoo - We went to Christmas at the Zoo on Ethan's birthday. It was so fun to go in the evening - a time when the zoo is not usually open for guests. The bats were actually awake, eating, flying, bantering with each other. As a surprise bonus, we got to enjoy listening to Indiana Academy sing carols in the Cafe Commons area.
Shopping - Another evening we met Daddy down in Castleton and the kids got to go Christmas shopping for each other and other family members/friends. They had such a blast! They both were able to come up with appropriate gifts for each other without prompting. When they opened their gifts on Christmas morning, we saw how perfect their gifts were for each other.
Crafts - When all else fails, there's always snowflakes, felt Christmas trees, and all sorts of other fun things to make with little ones!
Caroling! We missed out on our church caroling adventure, so we created our own. We visited a few neighbors and friends and sang a carol or two and gave gifts of apple and pumpkin butter. The kids really seemed to enjoy it. (I'm sure the homemade vanilla ice cream at Mrs. Eakman's house helped!)
Christmas programs - We got to attend one put on by my school from former teaching days. The kids enjoyed the singing, and we all were happy to catch up with friends.
Conner Prairie - What amazing gingerbread houses they have!
2nd Annual Family Gingerbread House - I had actually decided not to do this again, since it's kind of a waste of money. We don't like the taste of it, and it's just tons of sugar anyways, but Christmas Eve came, and the prospects of enjoying a Christmas Eve service looked bleaker and bleaker, but I still wanted to do something special. My brave hero of a husband scoured store after store looking for for any gingerbread kit to be had on a late afternoon of the 24th. He came home triumphant, and the kids had a blast decorating it.
Overall, I'm very glad we did purposeful activities throughout the month. Next year, I want to be more prepared and have things more organized and ready to just grab and do. I also want to make it more "others-oriented" rather than just fun, shallow things. We did have some of those, but I want the scales tipped in the other direction. I can't wait!
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