Advent Calendar Day 20, 21/22

So quite a few days went by without "officially" doing our Advent calendar. Here are the activities that were "supposed" to be on those days, but didn't make it because of my unexpected trip to Oklahoma. Some of them Eva did with her daddy anyways, but she didn't draw them out of the pocket (which just makes them a little more special and a little more fun)!

Watch a Christmas movie (The Veggie Tales Christmas movies are fantastic, I think, and Eva loves them)
Learn about St. Nicholas (the real one!)
Buy a gift
Enjoy a School Christmas Party/Performance
Serve someone
Make Christmas ornaments

On day 20, Eva drew a string of lights out of the pocket. On Sunday, Mike and I drove home from our wedding in Virginia and I hadn't seen my kids in almost a week! I was desperate to spend some quality time with them, so I thought it would be the perfect day to get in the car after dinner and baths and take a drive looking for amazingly decorated houses! Since Eva is a sucker for all things sparkly and twinkling, it was the perfect end to a long weekend. Every year, we visit a home on Hopewell Road near my parents house, because their decorations are just completely crazy and over the top, and we love it!

eating a "little treat"

Sam could hardly keep his eyes open for this adventure

the crazy house- this picture doesn't even remotely do it justice...

Eva wanted to get out for a better view of this one

On Day 22, she did both days 21 and 22's activities (day 21 kinda snuck by me)...

She pulled out a can of food and little baker shrinky dinks out of the pockets. The can of food represented donating food to our local food pantry. I explained to her that there are some people who don't have food, and a special way that we can honor Jesus is to serve other people by donating food to help them. She was very excited about this and listened intently to what I was saying. We will do this later tonight.

The little baker represented a day of baking Christmas cookies. Now, I am not much of a baker, and this was supposed to be an activity she would do with Grammie Whitnah (my mom). However, with her being with MY Grammie in Oklahoma indefinitely, this little activity fell squarely on my shoulders- much to my dismay... We made what I had ingredients for- peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top- and she thoroughly enjoyed the process and the results. I must say that I am excited for her to enjoy this activity next year with her Grammie- this is as it should be :)

Her are a few pictures:

This is her expression when I was explaining that there are people who don't have food to eat- she was pretty concerned about this.

she takes the unwrapping of the kisses very seriously

like how she lined up the kisses?