We usually see Santa the first weekend in December after he rides into town on a firetruck. It's always pretty busy, then, though, and too long to wait. So we still saw him ride into town, we caught a ride on a horse-drawn carriage around town, saw a model train set at a local museum, and then went to the church's cookie decorating day.
Jacob loved the model train set. It fills a whole room and has lots of working parts.
So we instead saw Santa the next weekend, at the local movie theater. They showed a couple Christmas movies for free. We missed the ones on the big screen, but still got to see them in a smaller theater in a cafe. We saw the Grinch and Charlie Brown's Christmas. We had snacks, and then we saw Santa. It was quick and uneventful. No one cried, but Jacob didn't want to sit with him or really even go near him.
Another tradition is gingerbread house decorating. We waited till closer to Christmas this year so there weren't as many options to buy at the store. We ended up inadvertently purchasing one that was pre-assembled, which actually turned out to be so much easier. The kids can never put those things together anyway, and they got to skip straight to the fun part, with the candy. They all took turns decorating and eating a lot of candy. They had a lot of fun and it turned out really cute. It didn't really taste good after all was said and done, but that isn't the important part, I guess.
A new tradition we made adapted this year was watching the Polar Express in new Christmas jammies. They usually watch the movie, but this year I got them all new pajamas (well, Jacob already had an old pair, and the ones I got Abi didn't fit, so she also wore an old pair). Then they got to open one gift that was from their Aunts and Uncles in Texas.
We also enjoy going caroling with the kids from AWANA and some other church friends on a Wednesday night. We go to three local nursing homes and sing a few songs, give them some cookie tins and then go back to the church for dinner together. The kids love picking out their favorite Christmas carols!
The day before Christmas we made sugar cookies for Santa. Even Jacob got in on the fun, cutting out his shapes and decorating with frosting.
Each year they get better and better at decorating!
Abi loves helping in the kitchen and she helped me rolls sausage balls for Christmas morning this year.
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