Travis’s family also had an advent wall calendar growing up but with pockets on the dates and you would move a little mouse from day to day to count down until Christmas.
Anyway, I saw this idea and just fell in love with it! I told Travis I was going to make one for Carissa over the Thanksgiving holidays. Well, I looked for a tree branch at the craft stores – couldn’t find one. I looked for small boxes and was just going to make an advent tower – they were all way too big or too flimsy. (I was looking for boxes about the size to fit small ornaments and pez dispensers – no bigger than a jewelry box or match box.) So, my brilliant plan was quashed like so many tend too.
But, Travis happened to see this little house at Target so we settled on doing that this year. And, Carissa has LOVED it!
The compartments really aren’t big enough to do what I wanted to do (I had bought some Mickey Mouse ornaments on clearance last year and they didn’t fit through the doors!), but they are just big enough for a small piece of candy, a dollar, a couple of quarters, or - Carissa’s favorite – treasure maps! Every morning she wakes up asking about opening the ‘number of today’ and is so excited to see what waits for her behind the door. We used the treasure maps to hide the ornaments around the house so it did work out in the end.
On Christmas Eve, the door was supposed to reveal the baby Jesus for our nativity set. But, of course, baby Jesus does not fit through the little door… Grrr… Another map it is, but with a star to mark the spot rather than an x!
I’m trying to decide if I should have the treasure map lead us to the baby Jesus under the Christmas tree (because he is the most important gift) or if the map should just lead us to the nativity scene with baby Jesus in his spot. (When we set up the nativity scene, I intentionally left baby Jesus out of the scene because we celebrate his birth on Christmas. So Mary and Joseph are patiently waiting with the wise men and shepherd and donkeys.) I’m leaning towards having the map lead us to the nativity scene.
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We had SNOW the first Friday of the month! Fortunately, I had the day off from work, and Carissa and I had already talked about the possibility of snow that afternoon. Surprise, surprise – we started seeing big, fat flakes around 8:30 that morning!! Carissa was at her art table in the kitchen and I eagerly called her over to the door to see the flakes falling. She nonchalantly answered, “Well, I’m working right now, Momma. I’ll come see it in a little bit.” Whhhaaaat? It only snows here about once every ten years! Get over here girlie!
She finally stopped “working” long enough to come and look with me, but she wasn’t quite interested in going out in it. It was still kind of drizzly, kind of snowing – but we take what we can get in southeast Texas! Luckily, the snow fell for a good while and we finally went out when she was good and ready. She donned her ski bibs, coat, and snow boats all without fuss. She really enjoyed catching the flakes on her tongue, making snowballs, and throwing them at me. She would’ve played in it a lot longer, but her Momma got cold so we went back in.
The next morning, we woke up early to attend a “Breakfast in Bethlehem” at one of the local churches in Pearland with Grandma and Pa. It really was a winter wonderland outside! Frost covered the ground and the rooftops. It was a really pretty site and the perfect setting for our destination.
The church’s fellowship hall had several different tents set up inside where you could see and do different things. The church members were all dressed in robes and “Bethlehem-wear”. The thought was to have the hall be Bethlehem in Jesus’ time. They had an “Iron Shop” where they strung a metal ornament, a “Music Shop” where you made a tambourine or shakers or a drum, a “Scroll Shop” where you drew a picture and rolled it up like a scroll, the stable, a pottery tent with a guy making clay pots, and a bakery with breads. They even had Santa and Mrs. Claus, but they were off in a completely different room which was really smart. Not just for crowd control, but also really stressing the difference between the real meaning of Christmas versus Santa Claus and everything that goes along with that.
After the pancake and sausage breakfast, the three wise men began to inconspicuously make their way through the hall, asking the kids if they saw the bright star and would they go and seek the newborn baby king with them. Carissa hopped right up and went with them! I was SHOCKED that she didn’t grab on to one of us to come with. The wise men led the kids up to the stage where the stable was set up. The stable doors opened to reveal Mary, Joseph, and a baby Jesus.
The morning ended with everyone singing “Joy to the World” with the kids playing their instruments that they made at the Bethlehem Music Shop. I think that is something we’re likely to do again next year.
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Before Rita gives me a hard time, I figured I’d better write an update for the latest goings on at Casa de Cherry (or is it Cherry de Casa? Hmmm… that’s what I get for taking Latin in high school I guess.).
We’ve all been kind of sick off and on the past few weeks. I think it has something to do with the weather. It goes from being beautiful to crummy in 3.4 seconds it seems. Today it is 77 and no rain, tomorrow is 54 and nasty.
We had a fairly uneventful Thanksgiving week which was a nice break. My parents went to Vegas for the first part of the week which meant Carissa got to go to work as Travis and I are limited on vacation time. She went up with me on Monday, Travis on Tuesday, and I worked from home on Wednesday. She really did exceptionally well for both of us.
On Monday morning when she came with me, we decided to stop by Starbucks because
On Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a laidback day with the Slaughter side of Travis’s family. We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch (which was very good!), to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa, and then over to Granny and Pawpaw’s for dessert, coffee, and the A&M basketball game. Carissa stayed with her Grammy and Pawpaw to go for a visit to East Texas with the Campbell side while Travis and I boogied on home to watch the A&M/tu game. (What a game by the way! Even though the Aggies ran out of time, it was a fun one to watch. Can’t wait until next year – Hullabaloo, Canek, Canek!)
Friday, we slept in a little bit and then went out after the first round of Black Friday shoppers were done. We still managed to score several good deals even though it was lunch time. We went to the new sports bar on Pearland Parkway to watch the A&M basketball game again along with the Alabama/Auburn game. During the game, we saw a commercial for Outback that we decided to take advantage of that evening. Check this deal out - Trav had a beer, I had a glass of wine, we both had steak, lobster, a baked potato, AND gingerbread martinis for dessert for less than $60! We will definitely do that special again before it is gone!
Saturday we had a traditional turkey and ham lunch at my mom’s with her extended family. Travis left after lunch to go hunting with his Dad; I left shortly thereafter to sit on the couch, enjoy the quiet, and watch movies all night!
This morning I went to see New Moon and was pleasantly surprised that it was a lot less horrible than the Twilight movie was. Kristen Stewart’s mouth still drives me nuts, Rob Pattinson just does not play a good Edward (he is way too scrawny to compete with Taylor Lautner and he talks like he is stupid or something – I don’t quite know how to verbalize it…), and I really wish they would make the vampire eyes just a little more believable like they did with their makeup this time around… but, it was still… ok. Like the old saying goes, the book is just better than the movie.
...Except if you’re The Lord of Rings or Interview with a Vampire - stick to the movies there!
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I am totally listening to classical Christmas music on Pandora today!
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We’ve been a busy little family the past few weeks! Here is a quick run-down of our recent escapades…
1. I went on a fabulous girls-only trip to New Braunfels with Dee, Margaret, Roxy, and Kim. What a fabulous time we had! We had pedicures, chocolate martinis at a piano bar, wine at Gruene, lunch at the Grist Mill, heard a live band at a bar, ate at Taco Bueno, and outlet-shopped in San Marcos. I may or may not have come home with five new pairs of shoes…
2. Travis and I went to see U2 in concert! Travis and I are not big concert goers – the vast majority of our live-music exposure can generally be found at a dive bar rather than a stadium that seats 80,000. But, wow, what an awesome show!
3. We celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on October 18. The concert was our gift to each other, and we went to the South Shore Wine Festival, out to dinner, and then to one of those dive-bar concerts I told you about afterwards.
4. Carissa had a little open house at her preschool. They had a really cute singing performance and then we went on a tour of her classroom. The kids were soooo cute singing their little songs. Carissa explained to us that she would get to be on the top stairs during the performance next year when she is in Mrs. Woods class!
5. Parker celebrated his first birthday! Loni baked a really cool F-15 birthday cake and served up breakfast food which is Parker’s favorite. Carissa and I got to take Parker, Hunter, and Grammy to the zoo that Friday afternoon prior to the party. What a hoot that was! Grammy and I quickly discovered that we did much better with Parker staying the wagon – that boy is FAST and doesn’t stop! We had great weather and the kids all had a good time as evidenced by the three sleeping kiddos in the backseat on the way home.
6. Hunter asked Carissa if she could have a sleepover with him and Grammy that night and of course she obliged! They have such fun together. They love to watch movies, play in the dirt, ride the Artic Cat, and have breakfast in bed at Grammy’s. Pat always sends us pictures of the two of them playing and they are just priceless!
7. The next night after Parker’s party, Carissa had a sleepover with Parker at Pops and Grandma Ronnie’s house. They got to go watch sky-divers, picked pecans, and went out to the Smiths’ to check on the deer-stands. Carissa came home with a new camo-Aggie hat and is ready to go huntin’.
8. Carissa decided several months ago that she wanted to be a dog like Shelby for Halloween. We found a pretty good match at Target but they didn’t have her size. I told her we’d buy one online and the mailman would bring it to the house. When we were searching Target.com, she saw a Scooby costume and changed her mind quick! She really did make an awesome Scooby Doo. We trick-or-treated at the Pearland Trick-or-Treat trail again this year and then came home and hit up several houses in the neighborhood. I can’t even begin to tell you how cute my sweetie-pie was running up to the doors, knocking with her big Scooby paws, hollering ‘Trick-Or-Treat’, getting her candy, and running back to us with a big grin!
9. Dee and I are going to see Mary Poppins tonight!
10. What’s up next? We go see Disney on Ice next week! We have a family church dinner with my Grandpa! We have a big 3-oh birthday party for Margaret! Turkey Day! Woot-woot-woot!
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