Crafts

Day 8 ... I thought it would be fun for Zaida and I to do a craft together. Zaida enjoyed it for about 3 minutes. But I finished it. I think it actually turned out really cute.
Ruby, the elf, has a silly personality. She really loves Zaida's other little friends.

Feliz Natal

This is the Portuguese way of saying "Merry Christmas". (Corey went on his mission to Brazil.) I made a dinner that resembles what we ate when we visited Ipanema. And then ate some dulce de leche ice cream, which reminds us of the cashew caramel ice cream we had in Buzios.
I also wanted to share what our dare devil elf did last night. A least she is safe ... She recruited Flynn to belay for her. :)

The Christmas Pickle

"In Old World Germany, the last decoration to be placed on the Christmas Tree was always a pickle ... Carefully hidden deep in the boughs. Legend has it that the observant child who found it on Christmas Day was blessed with a year of good fortune ... And a special gift."
In order to do this I had to finish off our Christmas tree (finally). Here is our black and white tree with a close up of some of the ornaments I made. (I made the striped letter ornaments, the music wrapped ornaments, the black flower ornaments and the glass ornaments filled with family members ... and the glittery "M"). It has been a long process, but I think it has turned out pretty nice. I'll actually probably add more, but this is pretty much complete. Whew!

2 turtle doves

... Which we have abbreviated to 2 turtles. The kids loved their chocolate and caramel dipped marshmallows. Then we had to walk off some of the sugar rush with some shopping. And then we actually drove through some neighborhoods near our house and looked at Christmas lights. A simple night, but it was great to just spend some time with each other.

Mele kalikimaka

Day 3 was our Hawaiian Christmas. No beach for us, but we did have a Hawaiian meal of sorts. Teriyaki chicken, sticky rice, steamed veggies ... And for dessert a pineapple cake. Of course I forgot about taking pictures of dinner with our buddies. And I'm a little forgetful and forgot to move Ruby the Elf too. Thankfully she moved when Zaida was at kindergarten. This time she moved to the kids bookshelf and brought some new Christmas books. The only real "problem" was she tried to take a bunch of marshmallows with her and tracked them through the house. Robson thought that was fun though. He would go and pick them up and feed them to us.

Day 2

Last night our little elf had too much fun. I don't know if she was giving a hint as to what we should make Santa for Christmas or if she was just bored. But Zaida was uber excited to see her this morning!
Tonight we are having a movie night and watching Elf. So far the popcorn is a big hit ... Lets hope the kids like the movie too.

Our Christmas Advent-ture 2012

Today begins our advent-ture! Day 1 ... our Elf on a Shelf showed up at our house! Apparently it's not the same elf from last year. Last years had little blue earrings ... Who knew?! Our new elf is named "Ruby". She was already a lot more mischievous than last years. Zaida thinks she is pretty neat, especially now that she has a fancy new skirt! At one point Zaida whispered to her that she was "going to be gooder than bad". Fortunately Ruby really only had good things to report to Santa (which Zaida was sure to whisper to her). Robson, on the other hand ... Well, Ruby may not love him as much. He threw ornaments at her and tried to kick a ball at her. We have a couple of more Christmas things to post, which I might just hold onto for now - just in case i have a lazy day and need something to fill in. :) Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!