Trimming the tree

Last year I put the tree up while my parents watched the kids. When they returned voila, a beautiful Christmas tree had magically appeared. This year, I thought it would be fun to involve them in the process.
So, we headed out to the forest to cut down our tree......maybe next year. Our Christmas tree is one that Steve had for many years before we even met. It's a little chaotic at first but we're used to that.
Learning about electricity the old fashioned way. Not really. Don't worry, they weren't plugged in. He was very interested in getting the prongs into the right holes. Luckily, he lost interest and forgot about the plugs once the tree was up.
"Look at all the necklaces!"
Getting into the new ornaments.
Time for the star. We thought we needed a little help from Daddy and the ladder.
Turns out we just needed Daddy. Yea!

I think decorating the tree is so much fun, once you get it up and the lights on. I love going through all of our old ornaments from Christmas's past. Every year we pick a new ornament, a tradition my parents started for us long ago. This year Grace picked a Toy Story toy box ornament and Lucas picked a "lellow" bus. I realize now that I should have taken a picture of the completed tree. Oh well, I guess you'll have to trust me when I say that it looked great.

Advent calendar

We started our advent calendar activities today despite my calendar not being ready. We're using the one from last year that my sister gave us. I'm thinking that the one I'm making won't be ready until at least Christmas day or more likely Christmas 2010. Humpfh.

This year instead of just filling them up on candy, I decided to add a holiday activity to each day. Makes sense right? Maybe next year we'll transition into just the activities and no candy. See how my evil mom mind works?
The first activity was to hang up our vinyl gingerbread house. Basically little stickers that stick to the wall but peel off without leaving any residue behind. Perfect for little ones.
They had such a good time with this activity. All I did was peel off the stickers and handed them over so they could put them on the wall. The only sticker I put on was the actual house and only because it was a little big for them to handle.
There were plenty of stickers to go around and so there was no fighting (okay, maybe just a little but mostly over the footstool).
The finished project. Grace did most of the house decorating and Lucas just sort of grouped all his stickers together. See all the gumdrops lined up on the right? He was very focused. Fun times.

Chuy's parade

Chuy's, an original Austin Mexican restaurant, sponsors an annual parade where kids bring gifts to donate to other kids. Good idea, right? This was our first time.He had to have some popcorn and of course Grandpa obliged.
We really got a good spot and sprawled out with our chairs. Don't let my Mom fool you, it wasn't that cold. All she needs is a parka to complete the look.
Trying on some antlers. Lucas wouldn't keep his on. Grace looks thrilled, huh?Showing them off with Nina.Anxiously awaiting the floats.First one up....Care Bear. The floats were big, just like the Macy's parade.
Lucas was a little scared of the floats and the loud motorcycles and cars.
The favorite float of the day---Horton!
And the not so favorite character---the Grinch. I don't blame them, he looks pretty darn scary. That's my mom's arm trying to get a shake, a high five....anything. She really got into the whole parade.

The parade was fun but would have been better if they had thrown out some chips and creamy jalapeno dip. The sad part was that we weren't the only people who thought to head over to Chuy's for lunch afterward. What were we thinking? We did end things on a high note by heading over to Torchy's. Mmmm.