Holiday Season To Do List

Our Summer of Fun and Fall Fun To Do Lists were so popular and have been such a hit with the kids that we made yet another list. We played around with the naming of the list for a bit because this season we're focusing a lot on the giving and donating aspect of Christmas. One name was Season of Joy and Giving To Do List another was Christmas Season Fun To Do List, but Holiday Season To Do List won out since the to do list starts Thanksgiving weekend and ends on New Year's (which is where our Winter Fun To Do List will pick up).

Without further ado, here is our Holiday Season To Do List:

•  Donate toys and canned goods
• Toys for Tots
•  Festival of Trees and Lights
•  Look at Christmas lights
• Decorate sugar cookies
• Jolly Holiday Lights
• Visit Santa
•  Santa at the zoo
•  Noon Year's Eve (Science Center)
• Watch classic Christmas movies (which includes "Elf")
•  Jingle in the Junction
• A Flynn Family Christmas (new to Living History Farms)
•  Make Christmas ornaments (I will be using Crayola model magic for this)
•  Decorate a felt Christmas tree and put up for the kids to continually re-decorate
• Make a Gingerbread house
•  Bake and decorate gingerbread cookies
•  Ride the train at the mall
• Read a different Christmas book every night in December
•  Make a paper chain countdown to Christmas
• Look for Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve (this will be a challenge, but I have no doubt that their imaginations will help out with this one!)
•  Make Christmas sensory bins

We have technically already started on this list by donating a sack full of canned goods to Combat Hunger and the first train ride at Merle Hay Mall this week, but officially the Holiday Season To Do List will start the day after Thanksgiving when we put all of our Christmas decorations out, get the felt tree ready to hang up, look at Christmas lights for the first time, and make gingerbread cookies. Wish us luck, joy, and fun in completing our list over the next few weeks! Happy Holidays my friends!

Thanksgiving Feast for Kids

Well, technically it was a tea party/Thanksgiving feast/snack time rolled into one, but it definitely reminded me of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. For the past week, I have had three little boys (Harrison and 2 daycare boys) begging me to make them a tea party. Today was the day I made their request come true. I searched for plastic or paper tea cups for the kids to use, but never found exactly what I was looking for. So, I went with these from Dollar Tree:

I used a plaid flat sheet (according to the kids, it looked like a picnic blanket) and covered the train table. Earlier in the morning I had the kids color place mats, so I laid those down under their plates to help keep the mess minimal since they were on carpet.

I found these at Michael's in the one shelf of fall activities. The activity pages are too hard for the  younger kids, but Max (5 years old) has thoroughly enjoyed them.

I made hot chocolate in the Keurig, popped popcorn, and made Thanksgiving cookies.

The kids LOVED this tea party/Thanksgiving feast/"coolest snack time ever!" We topped the party off by watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and talking about the first Thanksgiving, which lead to playing Indians. Yep, just another typical morning here!