Christmas activities 2016

 We started decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.  Pearce was so excited to get everything out and help!  We started with the tree.  The tree took FOREVER, but I love how it always turns out!  GG brought Pearce a special wand that magically turns the tree off and on.  It is so adorable!  Our elf, Jerry, brought Pearce a special box with a new pair of Christmas pajamas.  After we decorated the inside of our house, we put the lights up outside and I must say, our house looks pretty festive!  We love driving around neighborhoods and pointing out who's a party pooper and who is not :)  There's one neighborhood street that has the 12 Days of Christmas theme going on, so I took Pearce and he loved getting out and walking around looking at all the lights and decorations.   Last week, we met Heather and Claire for a candy cane flashlight hunt at Santa's Jingle House.  It was so fun!  All the kids were dressed in their Christmas pajamas and Pearce got tons of candy canes.  We were supposed to bring a bag to collect the candy canes in and at first I just got a grocery sack, then I thought about Pearce's stocking that Mama made him.....the perfect thing to collect candy canes!  They also had tables set up with cookies and juice.  It was a really fun night!  We've also gone to see Santa!  We went to a new place this year...Bass Pro and it was awesome!!!  There were all kinds of kids activities to do and Santa's Wonderland was decorated so cute!  Pearce knew exactly what he was going to ask Santa:  Scooby Doo's Pirate Fort Mega Set and the Imaginext Shark Ship.  When it was Pearce's turn, he walked right up to Santa and started talking.  Santa later told me "Well, I can tell Pearce has thought a lot about what he wants."  Then he turned to Pearce and said "I will see what I can do to get you those toys."  He was the BEST Santa ever and took time to talk to all the little kids.  Plus, the picture AND the cute frame were both free!  We met some other friends there and went to eat dinner at the café and then Pearce wanted to look at the animals and fish and almost 3 hours later, we went home!  It was really fun!  We also gave out our first Christmas gift....to Wally, our favorite shop dog ever!  Pearce picked out a bone for him and then we went to the mailing store where he stays and Pearce asked Mr. Mike, Wally's owner, if Wally could have the bone.  Wally was already at Pearce's feet drooling :)  Then, Mr. Mike gave Pearce a bag of gummy worms from Wally.  It was so sweet....Pearce just adores Wally!  On the last day of school before the holiday break, Pearce's class got to wear their pajamas to school and decorate gingerbread houses.  I volunteered to help the class with the gingerbread houses and it was so much fun to see Pearce's sweet class work on these.  I just love Mrs. B. and how she manages her class.  The kids were all so sweet and well behaved and just had the best time!  I took Pearce to the Round Rock drive thru light display and we had so much fun!  I always let Pearce ride in the front seat and look out the window, which he always thinks is cool :)  After we drove through the display, we went to eat at Cracker Barrel.  Pearce saw the big checkers set and really wanted to get it, so we did...perfect set to play on the table!  Pops and Mimi first taught Pearce how to play and he's actually really good!   We have really had a fun holiday season.....love this time of year!!