The magical time of year!!

 

This is without a doubt my favorite time of year. My halls are decked, presents are under the tree, rocking out to the most amazing Christmas mix on spotify (if you want to get in the mood with a mix of indie, country, classic and alternative Christmas tunes check it out here)



Popcorn, our adorable little elf on the shelf

Our not so creepy elf on the shelf returned with a bang on December 1st and while I haven't been nearly as creative as I wanted, the month is still young so hopefully I can get my butt into action with him. Though Drew did get a kick out of him playing on the computer this morning!

This year I am trying to decorate a bit more organically (this house is not nearly as fun to decorate but whatever.)  I am happy with the results! I went the cheap route, picked up a few bucks worth of silk flowers, real greenery from the back yard, mason jars and some pine cones! Easy peasy!

 

 I also incorporated the antlers Nayt brought home from his hunting trip. This, lights, green, and some balls made a great topper for Kent's crate! Score! Oh and our empty bottle of Snake River Stampede Whiskey. made a pretty good vase to go along with the "country" feel.

We are also doing advent calendars this year (The elf brought them with him on December 1st). It was a great idea, but I am so disappointed with the Lego Advent Calendars. We got the Lego City one for Drew and the Lego Friends one for Alynn.  On tops of the pieces getting mixed up, most of the pieces are strange, useless and got lost in moments. The girls one is a joke. Yesterday's was a bunch of purple hair "clips" and make up. Really lego? At least Drew's is coming with little lego men dressed up as cool things between the pointless tables, food, and strange building things.
But the kids enjoy opening something every day so next year I am saving my 60 bucks and getting a bunch of candy in one of those hanging calendar things.

I also forced my kids with a themed photo shoot in an attempt to make cute Christmas cards. it was a fun way to break up a very cold day.

They set out cookies to trap Santa.

Complete with a rope

 

But they fell asleep waiting

And Santa ate the cookies.

The Final Result!

 

Of course our real card turned out completely unplanned thanks to our snow day because that's the way life happens!