The new normal: The Christmas Season with 3 kids

So, I bet amidst your holiday hustle and bustle you are wondering how things are going over here at the Wilson house with a brand new baby and all....Well, I am here to take care of those wonderings:

First off, if you missed the blog post where I talked about God healing Justice then I think you should read it!

And if you're one of those motherly types who keeps track of these things feel free to read my Letter to Justice:Month One over on his very own blog ( it's just easier that way...)

But what about the rest of life?! Because we were at Chickfila last night ( as you do) and my kids befriended a little boy who's father then started chatting with me and he mentioned how with "a baby so young I must be canceling Christmas this year"...and I was all like
 "*MANIACAL LAUGHTER*"

Because with a 5 year old and an almost 3 year old you CAN NOT CANCEL CHRISTMAS...besides I love Christmas trees. They are for reals in my top ten favorite things. So that's why even when I was sick with a stomach bug we were decorating the house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.
Boom.

There are soooo many things I should catch you up on- like homeschooling-which is back on fullish blast ( the ish is important there)....and yet it turns out while I have time to come up with fun activities like "Snowball Diagraphs" and "Christmas Tree Addition"...I do not have time to take pictures of said activities any more...sigh. Sorry.

But today I'd like to talk about Advent.
This year I knew that I wanted to do an every day Advent with my kids to make sure our focus remained where it "should" amongst the hustle of the season-and while I love all those great "activity" advent calendars where people have something Christmasy that they do each day- lets just say the 4 hour stretch of sleep I got last night was not preparing me for something like that...besides I really want our Advent to be about the coming of Jesus...so out came our trusty Jesus Storybook Bible  and this great little Advent plan...it worked out perfectly since we've been reading the Egermeier's Bible Story Book for a while now and it is nice to do something different.

Along with the bible story-which are beautiful by the way-I also know that my kids need a little "fun" so we also incorporated our other two "advents" into our time. It works out great because right now there are just two kids involved so they can take turns each day, going back and forth between the two activities...I suppose we'll have to add in something new in a few years when Justice starts to care...

The stockings each hold a teeny tiny Christmas ornament that the child gets to then put on our teeny tiny tree.

We also have this lovely Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar for the iPad that our sweet friend Judy has given us  as a gift every year since Ransom was born. It has gorgeous graphics and lovely music and each day there is a little video to watch or some interactive "game" for the kids to enjoy. They loooooove it. 



So there you have it! Our advent for 2015! I would love to hear any and all of your own advent traditions, reading material and activities!



My next blog post I hope to be a humble-brag session in regards to the DIY Christmas gifts I had to got to make for some of my nieces this year! We were trying something new where we drew names for the grandkids and hopefully added more of a 'giving' focus to Christmas this year...but somehow this turned into a "make your christmas gifts!" type deal...and we ALL know I'm not the craftiest! That said, I'm pretty happy with how the gifts turned out! I actually think the recipients may like ( important!) their gifts and at the same time my kids were involved in the making process which is nothing short of miraculous... So that post is coming soon! Stay tuned!