25 Days of Christmas

The girls and I are still on vacation in Georgia with Nana and Papa, and The Daddy is back in Florida working and keeping tabs on the house renovations. Time is ticking away as we girls catch up with friends, visit with family and wait for the big finale, The Nutcracker, on Sunday.

This month I'm mourning the fact that I will not be decorating our house this year. In order to combat my sadness, I'm trying something new. I'll be documenting 25 things we do together to celebrate Christmas. Some will cost money, some will cost little, some with only require time, but all the things we do to celebrate are aimed to bring us together at this very special time of year!

Last evening we dined at the southern mecca of tradition, Cracker Barrel, and picked up these sweet babies for $9.99 each:

I knew there would be lots of sampling:

The fun didn't begin immediately!

Yes, no makeup, glasses on, still in the pjs...these things are required!

Wondering when it will be ok to eat the candy:

HJ and I worked together:

While Nana and AE created their masterpiece:

HJ with her finished product and smiles!

AE looked like this throughout the whole process:

This smile was worth $20!

Five minutes later...

HA! HA! HA!

We plan to rebuild. The kits were perfect. I've seen them at Bed, Bath and Beyond, so you could use the 20% off coupon to get them even cheaper. I CANNOT even imagine baking our own gingerbread and making our own icing and picking out and buying all the different candy. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Bonus: 4-year-olds and 2-year-olds lick every piece of candy, so you WON'T be tempted to eat any after you're done!

Keep checking back every day until Christmas for some old traditions as well as some new ones. Yesterday was the first installment with the "no brainer" visit to see Santa. I'm thinking that around day 14, things will get interesting...