The Weekend Before Christmas

The weekend before Christmas is one of my favorites. We've started Christmas Break, we're counting down and looking forward to all the fun and celebrations of Christmas week, we have a special Christmas service at church, and we enjoy our annual Christmas lights tradition that now includes a scavenger hunt! 

This year the tradition was possibly more fun than ever before because the big boys were sooo excited and into it!! We made pictures in front of the Christmas tree and then they gathered their supplies... a blanket for each of them, a flashlight, their bingo cards, a pen, a book, and then I provided the bowl of snacks. =)

An early supper, baths, and pjs are a requirement before heading out.

This year we decided to use BINGO cards versus a checklist. They were simple, easy, and fun since they had all pictures plus the goal was 4 down, across, or diagonal. Even though they eventually tried to find them all it was nice just to get BINGO. The cards we used can be found here.

Since Layton isn't quite ready to participate in the scavenger hunt, baby boy just enjoyed the lights and his snack. =)

Mama and daddy were excited too! This has always been one my favorite traditions to do with the boys... and now they've finally caught on!! Haha!

Since our neighborhood has tons of lights we decided to save it til the end and didn't start our hunt until we got to town... and then it was on! Some things we found right away and others took quite a while. We actually reached a point when Terrell said, Man this is too classy, we need the tacky stuff! Hahaha! We rode around all over town and the very last thing we found was the word JOY. I may have squealed the word joy really loudly when I saw it and freaked out our driver. Haha. We were sweating that one for a while because one brother can't find every single picture on his bingo card while another doesn't. That just wouldn't be okay. 

Coming back to our neighborhood was pretty fun too. We had almost everything on the bingo cards right here in our own neighborhood... but then it wouldn't have been much of a scavenger hunt so I was glad we did our neighborhood last. We like the search for everything the most. It's what makes the whole experience super fun. That plus the snacks. =) Even Layton squealed over the lights from time to time. It was a fun night for the whole fam. The boys crashed almost immediately after we got them home and in the bed. Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt success!! (Here we are enjoying the tradition last year.)

Sunday was a great day too. We had a wonderful Christmas service and Sunday School lesson celebrating the Gift of Jesus. I love the Sunday before Christmas. It's my second favorite Sunday of the whole year. =)

Since Layton wasn't up for a posed pictured with mama and daddy we snuck in a family selfie. =)

Sunday afternoon all the guys in the family were busy assembling an early Christmas present for our boys! Our little playground is finally complete!! The only thing left is the wood chips and outline. We can't thank our dads, Frankie, and my uncle Terry enough!! Between clearing the land, leveling the land, and then eventually assembling the playground itself, this turned out to be HUGE project involving lots of man hours and we are just so, so super grateful for everyone's help and contributions to get it done before Christmas. The boys are so excited and have already played on it! It's going to be a favorite Christmas gift for years!

Last night my parents invited us and Anna's fam over for supper for a little pre-Christmas get together. Their house is totally decked out and the boys love it. And they can't get over how Papa got that star way up high. Haha! We had a great time together and it was nice to enjoy a little calm (if you can even call it that!) before the Christmas craziness really starts!

The boys also LOVE their train. One day we'll put our train around our tree again. This year we were afraid we didn't have the space for it and that Layton would constantly derail it. Ha.

We had a really great weekend before Christmas. So thankful for the blessings we've enjoyed this year and so grateful for the Gift and Hope of Jesus! If I don't get another chance to blog, Merry Christmas from my family to yours!! May you enjoy your family, your traditions, your celebrations, and the love, hope, peace, and joy that Jesus brings. Have a wonderful Christmas Week!