Counting Down to Christmas: Days 22-25

WARNING: LONG POST

Day 22: Unwrap a new Christmas Ornament and Hang on our Family Tree

    I didn't get a chance to buy a new ornament before this one came around so I took Sophi with me to pick one out. She picked out the Candy Cane ornament, her favorite candy of the holiday! She also received a super cute owl ornament from Lolly a few days before. We let Sophi hang both of these ornaments on the tree herself. This is were they ended up!

 Day 23: Make Gingerbread Houses

    We all LOVED doing this together as a family! Sophi consumed a lot of candy that morning but Josh and I both commented that this is a tradition we want to keep every year! We went to Monkey Joes afterwards to work off all the sugar and even got a nap out of Sophi that afternoon!

Day 24: Strahan Family Christmas and Open one Gift from Under the Tree

    That morning we each got to open one gift, our Christmas Pajamas to wear Christmas Day! Before heading up to Columbia, TN for the day to celebrate Christmas with Josh's family, we discovered that Mary and Joseph had arrived at the stable, anxiously awaiting the birth of their son.

 Here are a few pics from our time with the Strahans!

Day 25: Celebrate Jesus' Birthday!!

    Here is recap of our special day celebrating our Savior's birth, our first time to be in our home for Christmas in 7 years!

In Sophi's words "Jesus isn't in Mary's tummy anymore!"

 Eating lots of candy!

 The excitement in finding out that she can drive her new pink car all by herself!

Taking Shiloh for a ride!

 Opening presents!

 Watching new movies!

We pray that your Christmas was a joyous and happy celebration full of the love of Christ!

Merry Christmas from Nashville, Tennessee!

Love,

The Strahans

Count Down to Christmas: Days 12-16 and 17-21

The middle of our count down became a little crazy as we moved into our new house, an early Christmas present indeed!

Sophi spent 3 days with her Grammy in Columbia, TN while my parents helped us move in and begin to get settled. Grammy was so sweet to carry on our tradition at her house but unfortunately I don't have as many pictures to show all the fun they had!

Day 12: Make a Christmas Craft

   The day before we moved in Sophi and I had fun sharing the morning with some other sweet mommies and kids making this cute Christmas Tree. Sophi loved doing the hand prints and us moms loved adding the finishing touches!

Day 13: Go out for a Christmas Treat

    This is the day Sophi went to stay with her Grammy. Despite the stomach bug Sophi had that day Grammy was able to get her a christmas cupcake to enjoy that evening after dinner!

Day 14: Sing Christmas Songs to Grammy and Poppy

    I am not sure how this went over but I can only imagine it was interesting! Sophi has really enjoyed learning some Christmas songs this year. Her favorites include Joy to the World and Away in a Manger.

Day 15: Decorate Christmas Cookies

    Sophi loves any type of craft involving eating sugar so I know her and Grammy must have had a blast making these!

Day 16: Unwrap (unbox) Christmas decorations and books

Thankfully my mom was here to help me get the tree and decorations up in the midst our move. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her and my dad! 

   Day 17: Buy a New Christmas CD and Listen to it

    This year I got Cedarmont Kids Christmas Carols. Sophi has loved it and I have enjoyed sharing this special music with her!

Day 18: Have and indoor snowball fight

    Unfortunately this is one we did not get to during our week of moving and settling. I look forward to adding it back in next year for us to try! Maybe Sophi will know what real snow is like by this time next year!

Day 19: Make a Christmas Craft

   I bought a bunch of Christmas stickers at the beginning of the month and we simply enjoyed an afternoon of stickers on this day. Mary and Joseph were even found playing with them the next day!

Day 20: Go look at Christmas lights    This was a really fun night for all of us. I made some hot chocolate (warm chocolate milk with marshmallows), we loaded with our Christmas cd in the car and headed out to look at some of the amazing lights around Nashville.  Day 21: Do Something Nice for Someone Else This was also one we missed on the actual day but were able to make it up the next day by having some of our neighbors over for dinner. They have a little boy who is the same age as Sophi and we have so enjoyed getting to know them over the past few months as we prepared to move in to our new home. Sophi helped set the table and kindly shared her toys while they were here. Lastly, I will leave you with a few of the places we have found Mary and Joseph over the last few days.

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas Eve!!

Count Down to Christmas: Days 6-11

Day 6: Unwrap a Christmas Book

   This was one of my favorite Christmas books as a child. Josh pointed out that it is probably due to my strong sense of smell. I LOVE the smells of Christmas!

Day 7: Buy Gifts for family members and wrap them up

    It was so cute watching Sophi decide what to get baby Madeline and Daddy this year. I think they will both love their gifts!

Day 8: Make a Christmas Craft

    It just so happened that we had planned to go to one of our play groups  really liked making her house...but really loved eating it most of all!

Day 9: Make Hot Chocolate and stir with Candy Canes

    Sophi was so excited to have hot chocolate! The candy cane made for a fun added treat!

Day 10: Watch a Christmas Movie and eat Popcorn

     This year we got How the Grinch Stole Christmas to add to our Christmas movie collection! We love all things Dr. Suess and it was a perfect length for Sophi's age! Festive Popcorn was the cherry on top of this fun family evening!

Day 11: Go to Bethlehem and visit Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus

     Here in Nashville, the Woodmont Christian Church puts on a fantastic and free "Walk through Bethlehem" for the community. Sophi was so excited to see the shepherds and their sheep, Mary and Joseph, baby Jesus and all the animals at the stable. It was amazing and will most certainly continue to be a Strahan family Christmas tradition!

We move into our new house Wednesday so my blogging my be sparse but I promise to fill you in our Count Down as soon as I can! I will leave you with a few of the places Mary and Joseph have been found on their journey to Bethlehem this week!

Our Count Down to Christmas: Days 1-5

Christmas is my FAVORITE time of year. I love the music, the lights, the smells, the family, and the gift giving! Living in someone else's house and moving into our new house in the middle of December threatened to take my joyful Christmas feelings away from me and my family. Fortunately, after remembering my cousin's count down to Christmas with their twins last year and finding several examples on pintirest I came up with our own family Count Down to Christmas, a new Strahan family tradition! This would keep the Christmas spirit alive amidst the chaos of our lives this Christmas season.

I wanted to share our Count Down with you because reading my cousin's blog last year gave me the inspiriation for this year and I wanted to pass on the gift!

So without further ado...here is the beginning of our Count Down to Christmas:

Day 1: Set out our Nativity Scene and Advent Candles

     Our Advent candles sit on our kitchen table. Each night we light the white candles (adding one more each sunday) in anticipation of Jesus' birth. 

I have a nice Nativity Scene and a play nativity scene. The play Nativity scene stays in Sophi's room for her to play with throughout the day. 

Notice we are missing baby Jesus. This year, in a small version of the elf on the shelf, Mary and Joseph have been journeying to Bethlahem. Each morning Sophi wakes up to search for where Mary and Joseph might be on their journey. Here are some of the interesting places we have found them this week:

Christmas Eve day they will be found at the stable and Christmas morning Sophi will find Jesus in the manager.

Day 2: Buy Ornaments and Decorate Sophi's Christmas tree

   Sophi LOVED this! Especially because her tree was pink. I took her to Target to pick out her own ornaments. Can you tell?

Day 3: Otter Creek Christmas Breakfast

   Sophi had fun making her reindeer craft, but did not enjoy seeing Santa (no pictures of course!).

Day 4: Indoor Snow Ball fight

   We missed this one because Sophi was in Columbia with Josh's parents. We moved it to a later date, replacing it with our "Visit Santa" day since he is not our favorite person this year.

Day 5: Do something for someone in need

   Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of this but Sophi and I went to Target to buy a toy and clothes for young girl her age from the Youth Encouragement Services. She had a hard time at first not getting anything for herself, but after some further explanation she came around and by the end of our trip was sad she couldn't meet the little girl in person to give her the "stuff" we had bought her.

 Stay tuned for more of our Count Down to come!

Sisters

I have always thought it would be neat to have a sister (I still love having a brother, Graham!). I am thrilled that Sophi will get to have the unique experience of sharing her family with another girl.

Introducing Madeline Zoe Strahan.

We will call her Maddie!

Sophi was actually the one who picked her name and from the very beginning of this pregnancy has been calling her baby Madeline. What intuition! We are all so excited to meet this precious little girl! My prayer is that Sophi and Maddie will be fast friends who share a lifetime bond of giggles and love.

Several things we learned about her during our ultrasound this week:

-She is a very healthy little girl (Praise be to God!)

-She loves to suck her thumb

-She really loves to sleep on her tummy

I am now 20 weeks, half way there! As we gear up to move into our house we are excited to think about sharing our new home with another little girl! Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Stay tuned for our 25 days of Christmas count down!