Getting Ready for Christmas

We've had fun these last few weeks getting ready for Christmas....

 

We went to see the Live Nativity at Briarwood with Chuck & Judy. I took 3 pictures in hopes of getting a good picture of Jake with Mimi & Granddad.

Picture #1 - Judy's eyes are closed

Picture #2 - Chuck's eyes are closed & I cut off his head

Picture #3 - Jake's eyes are closed



Our little elf came to pay us a visit. Now, I'm not an Elf on the Shelf pro (as told here). I tried to step it up a little this year. Still nothing overly creative or certainly no messes, but at least so far, I've remembered to move him each morning. We also have improved his name this year. Last year, Jake named the elf "Elf on a Shelf". This year, his name was just "Elf". Maybe next year he'll actually think of a name for the elf.

Hanging out in the Bat-mobile with Batman & Robin

Climbing down a rope from the cabinets

Which basically meant he looked like he was handcuffed

We've gone to church

We've made gingerbread cookies

Jake calls them "gingerbreads"

 

We've made gifts for our classmates

Jake attended his class Christmas party

One of the pastors reading the story of Jesus

Class picture

Enjoying their party

Jake also got to have his school birthday party. He wanted Disney Planes napkins and we brought cupcakes for the class (they were having pajama day)

The class singing Happy Birthday to Jake

This was Jake's face the whole time

Happy now the singing is over
Which Jake loves to sing happy birthday.
I'm not sure why he sat stone-faced while his friends sang it to him?

 

We went to see Santa (which I've completely forgotten how to scan a photo with this computer, so that will just have to come later)

Afterwards, we had to stop & get a gingerbreads
(Minus the bite already taken off his head)

 

Santa came to our neighborhood, so Jake got to see him again. I left our good camera at Jake's school, and I'm horrible at taking pictures with my iPhone, so these pictures pretty much stink.

 

So what does Jake want this year? We told him he can ask Santa for 3 things. The 3 things Jake wants is basically whatever are the last 3 commercials he has seen. The 2 things he has mentioned the most were a Power Rangers Megazord and a Cars Pump-n-Go racetrack. 3rd thing is just going to be a surprise, because he seriously changes his mind daily. 

 

We've had to remind Jake a lot about what the true meaning of Christmas is and what is really important. Which telling that to a 4 year old basically goes in one ear & out the other. (Or at least telling it to mine)

• I had told Jake the story of the birth of Jesus. We talked about the manger and who each of the figures were. Later that evening, I saw Jake playing with the manger, so I stepped closer to hear and to watch. I just knew he would be retelling the story of the birth of Jesus. No. A Wiseman was chasing Jesus on top of the manger and Jesus was saying to the Wiseman, you can't get me.
• To try to get Jake's mind off just Christmas presents and more on the special things about Christmas, I made a little homemade Advent calendar. Nothing fancy, just some white paper bags with a slip of paper inside. I wrote a Bible verse on each slip of paper and either gave Jake a little gift (like an ornament for his tree or a book about Jesus). In most of the bags though, it was the request to do a good deed. Did that get Jake in the Christmas spirit? No. After a few days, he started asking if there was a present in the bag or not. If there wasn't, he said he didn't want to open it.