‘Twas the Week Before Christmas

When our daughters get out of school on Friday, their two-week Christmas break begins. We are quite excited about having a whole week before Christmas to celebrate the season at home. Yesterday I sat down to plan out some of the activities I’d like for us to do.

Monday: Thanksgiving. Yes, you read that correctly. If you’ll remember, we were out of town for Thanksgiving. However, I have a turkey in the freezer and can’t wait to make dressing, sweet potato casserole, strawberry pretzel salad and pumpkin cheesecake. With all of the activity of the past couple of weeks, my girls have hardly had time to stay at home and enjoy their birthday gifts, so this is a “stay-at-home and play” day (with a little time for helping Mom in the kitchen so we can inhale all those delicious aromas!) Having a big meal on Monday night means we’ll have all week to enjoy leftovers!

Tuesday: Dollar store shopping; visit to the library. Each year, our two daughters and I go to the dollar store and together they select a gift for each of the relatives we’ll be seeing on our trip to visit my family. This venture takes quite a while as they choose just the right item for each person! I’m planning to purchase a bag of Christmas candy to give to the ladies that work at our library when we stop in to check out some books. I hope to find some Christmas stories that the girls and I can read together. (I recently read them O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi – one of my absolutely favorite stories!)

Wednesday: Christmas cookie baking! We always look forward to making our chocolate “gingerbread” men, and this year I’ve had each of my daughters choose another cookie to make. We’ll be trying these Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars and these Chocolate Crinkles, then deliver some to our neighbors and probably freeze some to eat later.

Thursday: Gift-wrapping day. This is the day to wrap all of those presents we bought at the dollar store as well as any others that haven’t been taken care of yet. (Both girls often make special crafts for my husband and I up until the last minute!) We usually cover the living room floor with wrapping paper, ribbons, bows and gift tags.

Friday: After an early supper, we’ll continue our tradition of going downtown to our favorite dessert restaurant, then walking through a nearby hotel to see the decorations and model train display. When we get home, the girls will get into their pajamas and we’ll read the Christmas story from Luke 2, followed by ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Each night during the week, we’ll watch a Christmas show together. We have most of the classics like Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and The Little Drummer Boy on video. One night we’ll travel to a park in another part of town to see a drive-through Christmas lights display.