Keeping them guessing

 We don’t do elf on the shelf, but we do have an advent calendar. It is wooden, with little doors for each day, and we can put whatever we want behind each door. Most often we put in a small chocolate (actually two - one for each kid), but we also often put in a little tag saying things like “put up Christmas tree” or “hot chocolate” or “bake cookies.” We try to be a little bit predictable and boring so the expectations are not too high, while at the same time throwing slight curveballs to make it interesting. 

Last week Jeff decided to fill one of the little boxes with mini marshmallows, so they would pour out when the kids opened the door. They were surprised and delighted 😁 

Elves

 Yesterday we got our Christmas tree. We went to a farm in a small town/rural area about a 25 minutes drive from here, where we picked out our tree and they cut it for us and brought it back to our car on a sled. When we went into their little building to pay, they gave us hot chocolate and gingerbread muffins, and also gave the kids candy canes and gumballs and little plastic gingerbread people and little stuffed star ornaments. The building had all kinds of antique Christmas things that were very festive. Definitely got us all into the Christmas spirit!

Today we decorated the tree, after putting it up and putting the lights on yesterday. Maren and Linden were helpful and also took lots of breaks, during some of which they put decorations on sleeping cats:

My sweet little elves!