Holiday happenings at the Porters

Cookie decorating.

.

 With oodles of sprinkles.

 We thought we would give some away, but instead we gobbled them right up.

Tree decorating.

This year we're doing a fake tree because of our holiday plans. Dan was less than happy to piece together our ailing "pre-lit" tree on which only about a quarter of the lights light up. We worked with it and it looks lovely. (But I'm guessing we'll spring for a new one the next time we need an artificial tree!)

 

Christmas book reading.  Our favorite tradition.  We have so many fantastic Christmas books. It's fun to revisit them every year.

 Christmas carols - played by our three resident piano players (Bailey, Aubrey, and Joseph).

And our brand new tradition:  Elf on a Shelf.  A little elf named Jackson (Joseph chose the name) came to live with us this holiday season. All day long he watches to see if we are being naughty or nice. During the night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa. When he returns to our house before morning, he picks a different spot in the house to sit during the day. 

Jackson the Elf came with a cute storybook which explained the whole elf watching/reporting to Santa situation, including the fact that the children can't touch the elf, or he might not be able to return to Santa to share all the good things they have been doing.

 After reading the storybook, Joseph named our elf and filled out the official naming form in the back of the book. Then he hunted through the house for the elf.

 And found him on a shelf in the family room.

 Now, this would all be just perfect if Joseph's mother could remember to help Jackson move to a different location in the house each morning.  The day after Jackson the Elf arrived at our house Joseph woke up and raced downstairs to see if he had moved.  He hadn't. Oops.  It took some serious creative storytelling to explain why this was the case (Well, he just arrived, and he enjoyed our house so much that he didn't want to leave, but I'm sure he'll leave tonight . . . .)  We've had a couple of near-misses since then, including a morning when Joseph swears he saw me moving Jackson to a new spot.  That would certainly be impossible, right?

Last night Jackson the Elf was wild and crazy, playing video games all night.

And that is what we have been doing during the exciting weeks leading up to Christmas.