We have spent the past few weeks working a tremendous number of hours, getting ready for Christmas and enjoying ourselves tremendously in the process!

Because we work with our niece and nephew, and because there was a school holiday, we searched for fun things to do together on the days they were with us. We had the added joy of having our daughter, Patsy, home for a couple of weeks. Of course, there were our grandsons and many other family members and friends to spend time with, as well, so we were never bored.

We snacked on popcorn many times. We did puzzles. We played games. I read aloud an entire advent story that is basically a chapter a day in a serial story leading up to Christmas. Rob and I had a really fun Christmas party with our Sunday School class.

We visited an attraction called Storybook Lane, where scenes from books and movies were set up with stuffed toys, lots of lights and other items, a model train, etc.

Malcolm liked Santa, but mostly the candy cane he got. My nephew and Patsy liked the churros and donuts they got at the concession stand. Other than food for a food drive and snacks we bought, this was free.

Other things we did was watch the movie “Elf” for free in a theater near us. Again, it was a food drive, so we just popped into Wilco and bought a bunch of cans of food. We got some snacks just because it made the exceedingly rare occasion even more fun. We did have a blast.

2 Costco gingerbread houses were decorated by different sets of kids. We attended a free ornament-making event and a simple gift making event, and a friend’s cookie decorating party with various kids.

The grandsons had a preschool Christmas program, where all the adorable kids got up and sang (or didn’t sing) for all of us. Zai crawled around the stage during his song. Malcolm sang a bit and then would randomly leap into the air. So cute.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent with various family members. Then we sat around like zombies all day yesterday, except for a trip to the dentist. We have one more small gathering on Saturday, after a few days of work this week. I’ve got to say the exciting activities seem to have dried up in our area, so we plan to do mundane, but fun, things like library, YMCA swimming pool, more popcorn, more puzzles and games, and perhaps a little cooking. We will see what we actually get done. It should be a good week, whatever we choose.