Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Past Two Weekends

Like the famous Christmas song goes, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."  We are really enjoying this Christmas season.  Payton is at such a fun age for all things Christmas.  She points out every picture she sees of Santa and is excited for his visit.  She had a blast helping me decorate the tree.  She loves looking at all the Christmas lights.  We have yet to do our annual "drive around town and look at all the lights" but it's on the agenda.  I found a fun little "Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt" on Pinterest, so I'm excited to try it. 

So, our past two weekends have been filled with fun Christmas activities.  The first weekend in December we traveled to Carroll to visit Chad's grandma in the nursing home.  It happened to be their Christmas program, so we were able to have some snacks and listen to some Christmas music in their dining hall.  After our visit, we headed to Boone to do the Santa Express.  Destination:  North Pole.  We enjoyed hot chocolate and sugar cookies all while singing Christmas carols.  After we reached the North Pole, Santa came on the train and delivered bells to all the kids.  I think Payton still has some reservations about Santa (as in, she won't sit on his lap) but she was excited to see him.  It was a fun night that we all enjoyed as a family.


Payton with her Great-Grandma Pietig


Definitely not the greatest family picture, but it'll have to do :)

Big squeezes for Daddy

Getting her bell from Santa

All eyes on Santa

Reciting "The Night Before Christmas"

Wish P was looking at the camera

 
Last weekend Chad was out of town on his annual deer hunting trip, so my parents came to stay with Payton and me. We made Christmas cookies, my mom and I went to the spa, and we made a trip to Carlisle to celebrate my niece's 9th birthday. Even though Kaylee's birthday isn't until Christmas Day, we celebrated it so we could do it before Baby Harper makes her arrival. (Which isn't supposed to be until January 8, but we all have a feeling that Jess will be going into labor on Christmas Eve. ) :)

We had a very fun weekend, but sure missed Daddy. We were glad to have him home Monday evening.



Rolling out the dough


A note on the cookies:  For the past two years we've used a recipe that I got online and it just hasn't worked. The dough was too sticky and we couldn't get it to roll out.  My dad told me to try to find my great-aunt's recipe because it was wonderful.  Turns out, she got her recipe from her mom, my great-grandma.  So, we ended up using my Great-Grandma Allspach's recipe, which was delicious!  It is definitely the recipe we will be using from  now on.



Frosting with Nana

The finished product :)
Nana with her girls
More Christmas activities to come:  Payton's Christmas program at church tomorrow night, hopefully the making of a gingerbread house, a Secret Santa staff party at school, hopefully a visit to Jolly Holidays Lights in Des Moines, the Creighton Christmas at our house on the 23rd, Christmas Eve and morning at my parents, and Christmas night at my grandparents.  Oh, and maybe the arrival of a Christmas baby.  :) 

1 comment:

  1. If you’re into planning fun Christmas activities, it will be great if you look for creative ideas online. Last holiday, we conducted a scavenger hunt at our grandparent’s house. The game wasn’t new, but because of the twist my aunties and uncles made, it became more exciting. We all loved it especially my little cousins. ^^,

    Rosalinda Hone

    ReplyDelete