Establishing Family Night

Should be Bucket List #1...but in the mix of life it dwindles down the list to about 204-604!

Throughout our early years of marriage, we have watched families with kids establish a family night. For some, it was always Tuesday night. Others, it was ANY night that they could grab. Before we had kids, we knew that this was something we wanted to do: Establish a Family Night every week.

Once Aidan was born, for those of you who know, our financial life was upside-down. Once we became established again, Aidan was...well...upside-down. Then, we had Luke. Then therapy, then moving, then...then...then... Something always seemed to happen - until recently.

Aidan attends TaeKwonDo training anywhere from 3-4 nights a week, except on Wednesdays. Wednesday nights is Sparring Class, and we have chosen not to let him spar - yet. So Family Night kind of was born on Wednesday nights. We didn't have any place to go in the evenings and we found it rather soothing to come together as a family and hang out in the backyard in the pool, or go for a bike ride, a hike, a walk, watch a movie, etc.

Last night, was Wednesday night - and instead of doing what we have been doing - watching ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas Movies, we pulled out the board games collecting dust on the shelves and played. All of us. What an inviting time!

Of course, this morning, the boys wanted to do it again instead of eat breakfast, get ready for school and the day! AHHH!....that will come, that will come...

Yes, that is Clyde the Elf on the Shelf in the background bungeed to a Christmas Tree being guarded by a Nutcracker...Long story...

Do You Still Believe?

Luke, being 3, still believes in Santa. Of course, this year is the first year that he really has taken notice of the fat man in the red suit that says, "HO! HO! HO!" Aidan, who just turned 7, STILL has the belief that Santa exists among tiny little people who are called Elves who lives in the North Pole. We often have debated on whether to shatter this image, but he stands his ground that Santa exists. I guess the Spirit of Christmas still exists in his heart and he will always hear the bell from Santa's sleigh.

A few weeks ago, Ted dug a hole in the ground and built a fire pit. (PSST! Next summer is gonna be awesome) It seemed only fitting that the first fire in the pit was the one that we sent the boys' Christmas Wish Lists for Santa in it.

We tried the whole, mail the letter to Santa, or go to a special post office to send it. We've even tried the email thing, but the burning of the LIST has stuck so therefore, we do it.

This year, Aidan only had 1 toy. He went back and forth between 2, but finally decided on only sending one toy. This way, he said, he would be sure to get exactly what he wanted. See, in our house, Santa only brings ONE toy (plus a few stocking stuffers). The idea is so that we the parents have an idea on what to get and put Santa's name on the tag on only 1. This year, our work was cut out for us as we had to FIGURE out the rest of Aidan's gifts. Luke, on the other hand, went ALL OUT. He wanted EVERYTHING! From girl toys to boy toys. We finally had to put our foot down when he wanted a baby doll complete with dresses and bottles.

Luke was pretty sad when he had to walk away from the burning list, but after he realized that having the toy itself was better than having a picture of the toy, he was alright.