Kids and the Holidays

We all know that kids change our lives. It is hard and a lot of of work to raise kids, but obviously worth it. And when it comes to the Holidays kids make them that much more fun. Here are the things I have noticed that have changed since having The Hoard.

*Kids love any craft/project that has to do with anything yummy and messy. Gingerbread houses are no exception and the perfect Christmas Activity. And thank goodness for The pre-made gingerbread houses these days.

Who would of thought candy and frosting could be so much fun and make such a cute house.

*Kids make the countdown to Christmas a daily ritual with numerous advent calendars. You can just feel their excitement grow as they get to take a link off or eat the day's treat. And can anyone else believe that Christmas is only 2 days away? I can't and neither can my kids.

We had 5 Christmas chains this year, once again thank goodness for schools and teachers that do fun things for my kids.

*Kids make it possible to have a Christmas play date and lunch. The girls in my ward (and Kim who will be in our ward some day) came over for a delicious lunch of soup, salad, bread, wassle, and chocolate waffles and ice cream. And as always these ladies are the best and I love that we are such good friends.

*Kids changed our tree. I used to take a long time decorating our tree, making sure each ornament was placed in the proper spot, with perfect spacing and color arrangement. Since kids, I don't even get off the couch while they hang ornaments. And this year we added some home made snow flakes to the ensemble.

With some thank you notes for Santa,

And a few home made ornaments here and there. I think our tree actually looks better than it's "perfect" days.

*Kids bring stories into our home. Now we have a stack of Christmas books as part of our decorations. Most of these were given as gifts, which I am very thankful for. Now I just need to be better at reading them to my kids...

*And, last but not least, our Nativity Scene has changed. Like the tree I would place them in a perfect arrangement, so all the pieces could be seen, and, once again, evenly spaced in their own spots. Now the scene looks like this:

And this:

The kids always place Jesus in the center surrounded by everyone.

My kids are pretty smart.

Jesus should be the center of Christmas.

So glad I have the Hoard to teach me a thing or two and to bring the excitement and spirit of Christmas back into my life. Can't wait for the magical day to get here.