On the first, second, third days of Christmas...

This tradition is a carry over from things we did while I was growing up. I've changed some of the activities (since going to see the lights as Temple Square is kind of hard to do when you live in Boise).

Here's what we've done so far...

On the first day of Christmas...

We made gingerbread for the houses we'll make later on.

Cutting out the gingerbread after it's baked.

Now they get to age for a week...They need at least a few days to be easier to work with.

The kids' best part...the scraps.

John's girlfriend does a house from a kit and then brings it to us. This is the second year she's done it.

On the second day of Christmas...

We made the kids' ornaments.

Our first Christmas a tree was given to us and we decorated it with popcorn and a borrowed strand of lights and a sheet as the tree skirt. Then I started making ornaments for our tree and soon I started making one ornament for each child each year. By the time I am done they will have more than 24 ornaments for their first trees. I hope their spouses will appreciate the ornaments and that they will use them at least during the lean years in the beginning.

James gluing.

Hannah gluing. James holding an ornament up.

Here's John's collection so far. I have six more days of Christmas to complete the set and I'll do one for his mission. Then his will be done.

On the third day of Christmas...

We attended Hannah's orchestra concert.

She loves playing the cello.

It looked like she was doing very well.

I'll post about more as the days go by.