We’ve got Christmas music playing nonstop. Stockings are hung. Gingerbread house is made and half deconstructed from the kids nibbling daily. Gifts are wrapped and under the tree. Cookies are baked and nearly gone - that one’s my fault. December has been one fun thing after another so far and the next two weeks are expected to follow suit. Here’s the latest:
Thomas starred as one of the three wisemen in this Preschool Advent Program last weekend. The program was prerecorded this year and played at an outdoor event last Friday in the preschool parking lot. The teachers served cocoa and cookies and us parents beamed with pride as we watched our kids sing in costume and tell the story of the birth of Jesus. The 13 minute program is available to watch here.
The event also celebrated the official beginning of the newly launched Grace Preschool, a now separate entity from the legacy preschool run by the church. The newly retitled ‘Grace Preschool’ now rents back its classroom space from Grace Church. The story made the news again last week and Thomas had some pretty good air time!
Natalie had her last day of school in 2020 and the kids celebrated by making and delivering Christmas cards to the neighbors surrounding the school. They also got to decorate ice cream cone Christmas trees (which paired very nicely with our gingerbread house at home) and they learned the sweetest handbell song with their music teacher. You can watch that here.
For the last month Natalie has taken a huge liking to my old American Girl Doll books. We started with the Samantha series and are just about halfway through her second book. They are quick reads and based on real historical facts. Now she keeps saying things like, “Back in the olden days…” and “In those times…” and she fully understands how life was different in the early 20th century. I read all the American Girl books when I was a little girl too so it’s been fun to reread them alongside her.
The gingerbread house was a huge hit with our kids who spent about 45 mins decorating last weekend. The kit we bought from Brewery Vivant was ordered online for $20 curbside pickup and it was fantastic! It came with three different icing bags, an assortment of candy for the decoration and all of the precut gingerbread pieces to assemble the house - which were delicious by the way. The kids have been snacking on the house for the last week and it’s a fun piece of decoration to have on the kitchen counter over the holidays.
We also visited the trees and trains now on display at Fredrick Meijer Gardens. This year there were no member holiday parties, which is our usual routine. The parties always include cookies, live caroling and Santa! Before entering the train exhibit this time, you had to wait in line to allow for physical distancing inside the green house. The line took about 15 mins (indoors) and we agreed that afterward the wait might have been worth it because once you got inside there were no crowds! It was wonderful.
Big news for the Smith Family: my brother Jason and his wife Rachel welcomed their first baby earlier this month. Brianna Riley Smith arrived on December 9th and her parents are over the moon in love! We are thrilled to welcome another cousin for Natalie and Thomas and it’s such a joy to have a baby in the family again (that’s not ours!). We cannot wait to see how Brianna changes the landscape of our family dynamics and we are looking forward to holding her again soon.
More big news, we finally caved and purchased a Peloton and this baby cannot arrive soon enough! When Governor Whitmer enforced another round of shutdowns in November, The Dailey Method closed its doors for a second time and I was crushed. Earlier this year I realized how dependent I had become on TDM to kick start my day. For me, an early morning spin class is better than a strong cup of coffee - give me both and I can conquer the world. By having our own bike at home that’s connected to a community both globally and right next door (literally, both neighbors on either side of us already have one) I’m able to not only do early morning classes, but classes anytime I want.
The Dailey Method has played a giant role in my fitness routine for the last three years and I’m going to miss my community there. Last year I made the 200 Club by taking more than 200 classes in 2019 and it made me feel like a rockstar. It’s that stuff that I’ll miss, but I do look forward to joining them again in 2021 for special events and themed rides.
In our last post I mentioned how we’d miss visiting Santa this year - something we usually check off our list during our stop at Meijer Gardens for the trees and trains. A friend later commented and recommended we check out Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm where they were offering ticketed outdoor visits with Santa. Admission came with cider and a donut for the kids and they were geeked about getting to play on the tractor tire playground before and after their stop to see Santa at his hut. This year Natalie asked for ‘coloring books and coloring stuff’ while Thomas would like ‘trains and train tracks.’ I’m pleased to say that Santa will most certainly deliver later this week. Jeff and I were laughing the other day about how last year Thomas asked Santa for ‘snacks.’
Last weekend I volunteered a 3 hour shift at New 2 You, the second hand store that supports student tuition for Grand Rapids Christian Schools. I kept busy vacuuming, sorting and hanging clothes, cleaning product and reorganizing shelves. Later I shopped using my 20% off volunteer discount and found myself a big coffee dispenser that I plan to use in the fall for hot toddies.
On Sunday we took the kids downtown to Rosa Parks Circle for ice skating. GR Parks and Rec opened up the rink last weekend and are offering prepaid admission to allow for regulating headcount. It’s $2 a person and includes skate rental and we had a similar experience to the trains at FMGs - no crowds! Natalie had an absolute blast and despite falling every 30 seconds she never gave up and kept smiling and laughing the entire 45 mins. Thomas had less fun because of a fall early on but he enjoyed getting zoomed around with my help.
We’ve got our fingers crossed for a white Christmas this year and wish you the merriest of holidays!
POSTSCRIPT - Things worth mentioning…
Have you heard? Cocoa Bombs are all the rage this season and we got ours at Top This in Kentwood. They are baseball sized hollow balls of chocolate filled with all sorts of flavored cocoa goodies. You fill your mug with milk and heat to chocolate melting temperature. Then you carefully drop your cocoa bomb into the mug and watch it melt and unveil the treats inside. Super rich and fun with the kids.
Outdoor dining is also super popular right now. We grabbed dinner with friends at Winchester a few weeks ago and had a great time! Everything is ordered online and delivered to your dome door. The domes are heated and fit up to 6 people.
There are plenty of lights on display out there but one near our neighborhood is at 614 Benjamin. It’s an entirely LED display that’s connected to 101.9 FM Radio and syncs the lights to the beat of the music. Worth a drive by in the car!
Connies Cakes located in Eastown made this beautiful cake for our neighbor dinner earlier this month. It was SUPER tasty and despite the maturity of the cake on the outside, the cake was funfetti flavor!
