Our Weekend + Holiday Bucket List Progress

How was your weekend? Ours was fun! On Friday night after the girls fell asleep, I remembered we needed more dog food. As anyone would do when they head to the pet store, I first stopped at Old Navy and found a few gems for gifts (I can't share them just yet because their recipients read this blog!). I grabbed the dog food next, and then decided to stop in Barnes & Noble on a whim -- wild mom on the loose! I grabbed a couple of gift cards for teacher gifts but what I really loved was just walking around, leisurely checking out books, sipping peppermint hot cocoa, listening to the live jazz they had in the cafe playing Christmas tunes. There was the sweetest elderly man busting a move to the music and I can't really explain how happy it made me. Life is busy and messy but if this gentleman, who has been through who knows what in his long lifetime and is at B&N alone on a Friday night, can break it down without a care... I think we can take something away from that. 

Saturday we hung out at home for the day and then had one of Carrie's friend's birthday parties in the evening. The kids had so much fun! And Sunday was a snow day. It looked beautiful falling outside and the girls (mostly the big one) begged to go out in it. It took at least 20 minutes to get them both layered up and dressed, and we were outside for less time than that. Happens every time! ;) 

So, almost halfway through December and I thought I'd do a quick update on how our Holiday Bucket List is going. Here it is again:

Bake cookies & give to neighbors: Happening tomorrow! 

Put up the tree & decorate: Done! We watched The Santa Clause while decking the halls on the first weekend of the month.

Watch festive movies: Done (and still in progress)! So far we've watched The Grinch, The Santa Clause, Elf, Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, and I've watched countless cheesy Netflix Christmas movies. Still left on the list: Home Alone I & II, Christmas Vacation, and The Holiday (one of my all time favorites).

Drive around looking at lights: We still need to do this with hot chocolate in hand. 

Shop for a new toy to give away: We are doing this today! C's school is doing a toy drive and I'm excited to get C involved. We also donated a children's book at the book store.

Go caroling: Haven't done this yet and not sure we will this year. I'd love to get some carolers at our doorstep, though. :)

Get dressed up and visit Santa: Still need to do this! 

Go on a polar express ride: We kind of switched this out for another Christmas experience -- the first holiday night at an amusement park, and our annual trip to a Christmas village that has a lot of meaning to us. We'll add this to our list next year!

Make a gingerbread house: Haven't done this yet, but still plan to. Would anybody be interested in getting really crafty and making something more creative this year? Shutterfly contacted me and offered a beach shack gingerbread tutorial (they must know me too well) for my readers! If you'd like to see it and share it with your kids, let me know and I'll be sure to do a post in the next week or two with step-by-step instructions.