Holidays with the Diazes 2016 - Part 1

I grew up with conflicting traditions during the holiday season. My parents don’t share the same religious beliefs; thus we sort of celebrate Christmas and yet we don’t. So it is a wonderful blessing that J and I share the same faith. Even though we faced some difficulties last holiday season, our family was still able to have a fun, meaningful, and blessed Christmas and New Year.

Since our little Queen B can now do simple activities and games, I thought that we could have 25 Days of Christmas Activities. Each day starting on the 1^st of December, we will have an activity or game related to Christmas. Here was our list:

25 Days of Christmas Activities

Day 1:   Set-up Christmas tree and decorations

Thankfully I listened to J’s advice to start decorating a few days before and to just place the final touches on December 1. It was quite a struggle to decorate with a very curious toddler in tow as she is fascinated with the various Christmas ornaments we have. She kept playing with the red balls. She also likes to point out the salt-dough ornament with her name on it which we made a couple of weeks before December. And it took several days of continuous reminders before she stopped playing with the wrapped gifts.

Since George wasn’t able to really help with the Christmas tree decoration, I prepared a mini-Christmas tree for her to decorate all by herself. The tree was made of Japanese paper while the ornaments were free printables from HappyandBlessedHome.com.

She really enjoyed decorating her tree. She can also point out the correct ornament when asked especially her favorite the star.

Day 2:     Make Christmas cards

I wish we have done this during our little Queen B’s first Christmas. It is a wonderful keepsake of how small her hands and feet were. We gave the cards to her Loloy, Lolay, and aunts in Negros.

Day 3:   Santa's Beard

We actually did this activity twice as George removed all the cotton balls a few hours after finishing the activity. To avoid that incident happening again, I posted this in our refrigerator out of our little Queen B’s reach. Whenever I ask where Santa is though, she will point to this picture.

  

Day 4:  Eat bibingka and puto bumbong

A Filipino Christmas won’t be complete without having these two delicacies. Our little Queen B especially liked the puto bumbong, just like Mommy.

Day 5:   Make a Christmas wreath craft

I got this idea from Pinterest. By this time, George already knows what to do when I put paint on her palms so creating this project was so easy.

Day 6:    Snowman Bowling Game

I used two empty bottles of shampoo (I was thinking of buying a bowling set for kids but I wasn’t able to so I made use of what’s available at home.). Using white paper and some art papers, I made a snowman face. Sadly, the balls we have were small so it can hardly topple down the bottles. This activity wasn’t a big hit with my little Queen B.

Day 7:    Picnic beside the Christmas tree

I surprised George with a spread beside our Christmas tree. I also brought out her teddy bears and the doll her Tita Eunice gave her to join us on this picnic. She enjoyed feeding her bears and doll. She was actually eating her lunch as she took her afternoon nap earlier than usual.

Day 8:  Christmas toss game

I got this activity and free printables from www.toddlerapproved.com . Instead of pointing out the character, our little Queen B has to move from one Christmas symbol to another. It was a simple activity that combines gross motor skills and memory ability.

Day 9:   Make a nativity scene and read The First Christmas

In preparation for the holiday season, I bought a few Christmas-themed books for our little Queen B. One of them is this book about the birth of our Savior. I also printed out these Nativity Paper Dolls by babalisme. It is important for J and I that our little Queen B knows why we are celebrating Christmas so this activity will be a mainstay of our holiday celebration.

Day 10:   Christmas Party with Growth Group

Photo by Sis Leslie. 

Even though our Growth Group had been formed several years ago, this year was actually the first time we were able to have a Christmas party. We were joined by another group which our leader also oversees. It was an afternoon of delicious food, fun games, exchange gifts, and reading the Word of God.

Photo by E. James

2016 was an amazing year for the Timothy Growth Group. Members were added to our numbers and our meetings were becoming more regular. J and I are excited to grow more in faith with them. 

Watch out for Part 2 of my recap of our 2016 holiday season. 

#xoxo