I remember two years ago I first heard the term Black Friday. I saw it online when I happened to be web shopping for a double stroller around this time of year. "What's Black Friday?" I asked Ryan. He didn't know either. Anyway, I got a good deal on the stroller, but our Black Friday tradition is putting up the Christmas decorations. (Then I heard about Cyber Monday last year. What is that?) Our Christmas decorations have evolved over the past 6 years. Our first Christmas tree was a small fake light up tree that was probably $20 from Walmart. That seemed like a lot when we were 21 and in college. We used that a couple years. Then we moved onto a small potted tree. I didn't want to buy a bunch of ornaments to decorate a tree so I didn't want a big tree. It didn't occur to me to make ornaments. I thought of Christmas trees as being elaborately decorated with store bought ornaments. Last year we finally bought a regular sized real tree because we had accumulated enough ornaments as gifts that it wouldn't look naked.
The kids and I bought and decorated our tree today. We have been making ornaments with stuff that is around the house.
I even made my first ever wreath from some of the cut branches and a holly bush in my year.
I did not have a tree topper. I thought about buying one, but that just made me cringe all over again. I made one out of cardboard and ribbon and I'm kind of proud of it! I can't seem to take pictures in focus of the tree, but you get the idea.
I'm starting the tradition of doing an Advent wreath and calendar this year, too.
I got this Advent calendar, which I'm still hiding from the kids.
I even found organic candy canes. I'm that crazy mom whose children have never had candy with high fructose corn syrup and red dye #40 (or whatever it is), but in case there are others like me out there, this is a cool store for people like us http://www.naturalcandystore.com/.
We are reading St. Nicholas stories for morning story time right now. I like the ones here http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/waldorf-1/.
We also just read The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, which I really liked.
I have The Advent Story Book, which has one very brief story for each day in December leading up to Christmas.
My public library is awesome and I get nearly 100% of my books there, which is a lot considering how much I read!
The kids and I bought and decorated our tree today. We have been making ornaments with stuff that is around the house.
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| sawed a piece of wood in half, drilled 3 holes, painted, tied knots |
I even made my first ever wreath from some of the cut branches and a holly bush in my year.
I got this Advent calendar, which I'm still hiding from the kids.
I even found organic candy canes. I'm that crazy mom whose children have never had candy with high fructose corn syrup and red dye #40 (or whatever it is), but in case there are others like me out there, this is a cool store for people like us http://www.naturalcandystore.com/.
We are reading St. Nicholas stories for morning story time right now. I like the ones here http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/waldorf-1/.
We also just read The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, which I really liked.
I have The Advent Story Book, which has one very brief story for each day in December leading up to Christmas.
My public library is awesome and I get nearly 100% of my books there, which is a lot considering how much I read!
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