Christmas Traditions: Part I

Hello December, you beautiful month. 

December is such a magical month! We kick it off with our Elf (Olaf) showing up on December 1st with the Nativity, and a note reminding us that Jesus is the Reason for the Season. Our Elf is a little different from the traditional Elf, he is here to help us "Light the World with Good Deeds". He doesn't do anything naughty, but has lots of fun, and brings us a mission, or a message of kindness and love.  

Here are a few fun things Olaf has done in our house. Feel free to follow along for more ideas at GrantedByTiffany on Instagram, where I'll post Olaf's daily adventures.

Olaf Ziplining 

Olaf having a snowball fight with the stuffed animals

Olaf going for a ride

Elf Ball Pit

Elf's new shoes

This next one is a favorite in our house! Olaf hides candy canes around the house and they kids get to find them and add them to the Christmas tree. It's a super easy activity. If you want you can turn it spiritual and discuss the Shepard's cane.

It's Elf O'Clock

Reading his Biography 

Another one of our favorites is the Gingerbread House. Every year we get the Trader Joe's Chalet. I put it together the night before, and then Olaf brings extra candy for us to decorate it with.

All of the Elves' food groups.

When Olaf leaves he always leave a note for the kids telling them how much fun he had with them, and reminding them to be a light, and do good deeds year round.

Another thing we kick off today is our Christmas Book Advent. We've got a giant pile of Christmas books, and we read one or two a day. Check out some of our favorites here. But this is our starter stack for the year!

And tonight our kids will get their Christmas jammies. This year I let my 7 year old choose the Christmas jammies, and he picked these cute Hanna Andersson StarWars Jams. 

Tonight we will set up the tree, listen to Christmas music, and have fun decorating the rest of the house. Normally the kids would get their new ornaments when we decorate...but I'm a bit behind and the boys ornaments haven't arrived yet, so we will hold off until they all get here. I hope you have a magical December, and a very Merry Christmas.