wrapping fun

I love wrapping gifts and had fun picking greenery and berries from our yard to make them more festive. I also loved all of the fun wood and felt gift tags they had in the Target dollar section this year.

more advent calendars

I found these wooden chalkboard tags at Target and they were perfect for our "25 Days of Christ" ornaments.

sunday evening stroll: yates mill

December Beach Day!

A few months ago I got tickets to see the Christmas lights at Airlie Botanical Gardens in Wilmington. Ben ended up with multiple work projects in South Carolina in December and had to be out of town most of the month. We hadn't seen him in a week and he was going to be working through the weekend so he met us in Wilmington on a Saturday. We started at the aquarium and the kids were so excited when he arrived. It was a gorgeous 75 degree day so we went to the beach for a few hours and even got in the water. We had fun walking out to a sandbar and Simon and Oliver loved splashing in the waves. The girls had fun collecting some huge seashells. After the beach we headed to the light display and had fun walking around on such a nice evening. We ended our night at Waffle House (the kids' favorite) before saying goodbye to Ben. Thankfully the kids slept for most of the two hour drive home and transferred to their beds easily.

Apex Nativity

Our Stake does a big nativity display every December and I took the kids to see it one night. This is our third year going and we love to see the nearly 1,000 different nativities from all around the world on display. They also have live music, a live nativity, and a fun nativity room for the kids where they can dress up and do other activities.

star advent

I wanted to make a new advent calendar this year to hang on the black wall. I sewed 24 paper stars (and stuffed each one with a little surprise...a piece of a new playmobil nativity set) and then hung the stars from a fresh pine garland. I love how the stars pop against the black wall. We've just been cutting out the backs of the stars to remove the daily surprise so we can enjoy the stars all month long. I may even be able to reuse them next year. And miraculously, Simon hasn't ripped them all down! The kids have loved opening the stars every day (and have also fought relentlessly about whose turn it is...we need to have an advent next year dedicated to advent assignments).