Countdown to Christmas--Week Three

Week Three

December 15--Go telephone caroling to relatives.

This was so fun!  We called grandparents and aunts and uncles and sang them a Christmas song.  All the fun of caroling minus the cold.

December 16--Watch Mickey's Christmas Carol.

For me A Christmas Carol is a must at Christmas time, but my kids have short attention spans so we do the short version.  We watched it on Youtube and it turns out they also have my other favorite version: A Muppet Christmas Carol.  Bonus!

December 17--Drive around and look at Christmas lights.

There's a neighborhood in town that goes nuts with the lights.  They call it "Candycane Lane."  [One of my fears is that someday we'll move to a neighborhood where we're expected to go nuts with the lights in the name of neighborhood solidarity.]

December 18--Celebrate Pie Day, Part II

Miles isn't sure how he feels about pie for dinner,

I made up this list of things to do when we were driving home from Thanksgiving break.  I thought about how wonderful Pie Day was, but how many of my favorites weren't represented.  I decided this called for Pie Day, Part II.  We had quiche, Chicken Pie, Razzleberry Pie, Chocolate Chip Pie, and French Silk Pie.  Good thing we had friends to help us eat them.  I'm thinking of making Pie Day a monthly holiday.

December 19--Make candy.

Every year I write "make candy" on our Christmas chain and usually that's code for "Leave Mommy alone in the kitchen for a few hours so she can make candy and cry about it when her caramels don't turn out."  Not this year!  I found some recipes that my kids could actually help with (it also helps that they're getting older) and we all made treats together. 

These are Ritz cracker sandwiches with peanut butter, dipped in white chocolate and drizzled with milk chocolate.  If you've never tried them, you should.  These things are good and good is fun.

December 20--Deliver candy to neighbors.

My favorite part about this was that last year we didn't even know our neighbor's names.  This year we consider them friends and are grateful for them.  [Another one of my fears is living out in the woods where I could lie dead for days and no one would know.  Getting to know my neighbors is my way of making sure I get to the mortuary before I start to stink.]

December 21--Grinch Day!

That doesn't mean that we all acted like Grinch's.  On this day we read Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!  For lunch I made Who-hashbrowns with eggs and Who-pudding for dessert.  We watched the movie and for dinner I made Roast Beast.  I was worried about this activity because a week ago Chloe started having nightmares about the Grinch.  She did shield her eyes a few times during the (animated) movie, but she seemed okay.

Christmas is coming!