Christmas Time in Ottoville

We started the Christmas Season out strong.  Getting all our decorations up Thanksgiving weekend.

Tree up check!

Decorating it with the cards we get instead of ornaments is a tradition we started a few years ago that I really like.  It puts the cards/pics in a place of honor and makes our tree look pretty yet different each year.  So "Thanks" so all who sent them, I hope to get back to sending out photo/cards myself next year.

Something new we did this year was to string white packing peanuts on fishing line to make what I think is a really nice looking garland.  Chris said the stringing was therapeutic.

Outside we of course put out the beacon lights for the airport (otherwise known as our deer), and a little tree.  New this year was 60 ft of colored light in the Podocarpus forest out back.  However, since most of our tree lights burnt out this year I think we'll recycle those for the tree inside next year.

My favorite decoration was all that was left, the ceramic Christmas tree from my grandmother and made by my Aunt.  This year the boys decorated in front of it with some neat stand up decorations.  I think they all did an awesome job with those.

Starting with a lot of ideas from my friend Brandy's blog, and adding my own, I listed out a couple dozen activities to do with the boys this holiday season.

Christina came over in early December to help us start crafting with a bang.  She brought with her "Snow in a Can".  They made paper snowflakes.  They finished the day with my favorite craft, hand print Christmas trees.

Over a couple other days we made some hand made Christmas cards and then I think the boys were crafted out for the season.

We went on our traditional nightly Christmas Light walks and drove to see a neighborhood that was really lit up, but the rest I guess we'll have to try to add next year.

Another nice addition to this year was Jared progressing on his piano lessons enough to entertain us with Christmas Carols throughout the season.

Christmas Eve we watched, "The Star of Bethlehem".  Which tied in nicely to our current study of Astronomy (that's a homeschooling mom thought if I ever had one).

We finished Christmas with a morning scavenger hunt at home and evening dinner with my family in Volusia.  The boys were very appreciative of all their gifts, jumping around like you see kids wig out in commercials, wish I had them on video, it was really funny.  

The best part of Christmas Day was evening prayers. When we asked the boys what they were thankful for, not one of them mentioned a present, they listed out all the people they were thankful for.  We said we were thankful to have such awesome kids!