Christmastime is here! (cue Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack)
Everyone said that Christmas with a toddler would be fun and it is true!! The first thing Noah asks for every morning is to turn the lights on the Christmas tree and he loves Christmas music. Yup, he's my kid alright. :) The first time we read a Christmas book his response when I read, "Merry Christmas!" was "woo-hoo!" (I promise I did not prompt him at all! :)
I have been reading so much about Christmas being so commercial and overdone and all the activities associated adding so much stress to your life. Number 1, it only becomes those things if you let it. And Number 2, I WANT my kid to remember Christmas as a big deal, to have memories and traditions as far back as he can remember. Maybe some big, over the top, and unnecessary things that mean lots of work for mommy, but you know what, it is worth it. (I love this post from one of my favorite blogs.) I believe that God is a fan of celebration and traditions and memories, for OUR benefit. Read Leviticus. And I believe those are some of the most powerful tools to use with our children to teach them about God.
If you know me, you know it has been Christmastime around here far before this week. I listen to Christmas music pretty much all year, and starting on Halloween it all comes out. The tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving (and stays up until I feel like taking it down or my husband makes me :). And I loooooove the Advent season and Advent calendars and all that good stuff. However, I know my kid and I know he would not be able to handle an advent calendar where he only got to open one door a day and wait for the rest, so I decided to do a "Christmas box." I put a card with a picture of a Christmas-y activity on it each day, along with a magnetic piece or a finger puppet of a character in the Christmas story. One of his favorite parts is when Mary and Joseph discover there is no room in the inn. He ran around all day yelling "Room, no room!" You never know what they will pick up on!
Some of his favorite activities have been:putting up a little tree in his room
This is definitely the favorite. We have undecorated and redecorated that tree many times this month! (It was the tree I had in my room growing up!) For a few days he carried around one ornament of each color pretty much everywhere. Lucy likes to steal them off the tree and ends up knocking the tree over, to which Noah says, "Uh-oh! No, meow-meow!" (But of course then he knocks it over himself and thinks its funny...toddlers. :)making Christmas play-dough
some Christmas art projects
pretending to be a shepherd and finding baby Jesus hidden around the room
This was such a hit because I let him carry around a big stick. Boys and sticks...So I know this post is cutting it close, but does anyone have any toddler Christmas ideas to share? Please pass them on if you do!!
Happy Christmas-ing!
