The Count Down

And it begins again.

This year I found a new way to display our "advent" calendar and I think I'll keep this one. It was so much easier to put together, have out, change if needed to fit a crazy schedule, and it kept prying eyes at bay.

I got the idea from here.  Made a few personal changes and voila!  The kids loved sitting at breakfast each morning and opening a new envelope anxious to see what the day's activity or service project would be.  

Most of the activities were similar to previous years,  mostly due to scheduling and school concerts.  We did throw in a few new ones though and added a couple of service days.  I think this was my favorite year yet.

A few of the "Oldies but Goodies"

 A trip to the Mesa Temple...a must!

School Christmas concerts...

 Family pictures...Wendy did an awesome job with this motley crew!

 My least favorite, decorating Gingerbread houses.  The monkeys love it though.  What a mess!

 And of course Christmas Eve dinner with family and the Nativity. 

And a few new ones that will become permanent activities!

 We swapped out the Tumbleweed Christmas Parade for the Queen Creek Christmas Parade, but only because our sweet Meggy was one of the participants!  She and her classmates decorated and rode on a float representing Benjamin Franklin Charter School.   She sang her heart out and waved and smiled, until she saw us and maybe got a little embarrassed by our excessive cheering and shouting and her mom running out in the middle of the parade route to snap some pictures.  Can you blame me?  Look how cute she is!

 We drove all the way to Scottsdale for dad's work party, complete with BBQ and Santa who had personalized presents for each of the children there.  Look how excited Paige is...

 Right after the work party we added the Tempe Town Lake Boat Parade to our advent.  We will definitely be doing this again!  Not quite like the Newport/Balboa Boat Parade, but still just as fun. Not to mention FREEZING!!!

We also added a trip to the McCormick Stillman Train park.  All lit up and also very cold!

 Megan, Haley and Kate serenaded us the entire train ride around the park.  I love my girly girls!

And finally, my favorite service and activity of the season.  This year we gathered a few friends and went caroling around the neighborhood delivering goodies and a Christmas message to families.  our sweet friends arranged to have a trailer with hay so we could all ride together, singing and joking for a good TWO hours around the hood.  We ended up back at our house for hot chocolate and cookies.  This too will become a tradition.  The best part was seeing the faces of those we visited.  There were 30 of us crowding in doorways, singing/screeching Christmas carols and I'm sure we were a bit scary looking.   After the initial shock after opening the door, everyone we visited was smiling ear to ear and laughing with us before we left.  We even got a text after visiting a "caroling scrooge"  who told us that we had just made their day, and even their season...so worth it!

As hectic as this tradition can get, I love it.  I love the spirit it brings to my house.  I especially love our new traditions and service activities that we added this year.