Finally, It's December 1st!

The boys have been so excited about Christmas this year.  Zach especially has been diligently searching every morning for our Elf to return . . . but he hasn't made an appearance yet!

Traditionally, Jeff (our Elf) returns to our home after the Christmas tree is put up.  So Sunday night, after church, we took the boys to Columbus to Lowes to pick out our tree.

The boys picked out the tree by themselves, and they were so excited about it!

Dave was so sweet and put the tree in the tree stand for me right away.

And now our first Activity for our Countdown to Christmas is complete:  We got our Christmas tree!  A real tree again this year.

We loved the real tree we got last year so it looks like real trees will be our new family tradition.  We'll be putting the lights on that baby tomorrow night.  :)

I'm so excited!

Another Ferrell tradition is the Nativity Countdown Calendar I made for the boys last year.  I hung it up for the boys and have it ready for our daily countdown.

  You can read about how I created the calendar and all the sources I used for my nativity character patterns Here and the scripture references printable Here.  My boys love doing it. 

I had to lay out the scripture printables and each of the characters on the calendar to figure out how I wanted to tell the story and what order I wanted to place the characters on the calendar.

The boys have mutually agreed to let Shane place the nativity characters on the calendar.  Today he placed an Angel on the calendar.

While Zach and Alex take turns reading the Scripture.

Here's today's Scripture reading:  Luke 1: 26-28, 31

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”  (source)  31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  (source)

And then another Christmas tradition we started two years ago is counting down to Christmas by reading a Christmas book every night.  The first year we did this, I wrapped every book and placed them under the tree but . . . the boys would argue over who'd get to unwrap the present, who'd get to read the book, etc.  

This year I'm picking the book we read each night and letting the boys take turns reading the book out loud to us.  I'm not wrapping the books.  Too much effort for this tired woman!  Tonight in anticipation of our elf's arrival, Alex read The Elf on the Shelf book.

 Even Dave sat down to listen to Alex read . . . with his best buddy right on top of him.  :)

Alex was so cute reading the book and explaining the pictures to Shane.

So there you have the Ferrell's daily Christmas traditions.  Seems like a lot, but with these 3 boys, I have to keep them busy.   One of the rules for the Nativity Countdown calendar and for reading the Christmas books is the boys have to have their baths and pajamas on beforehand.  :) 

I hope you check back tomorrow for Day 2 of the 25 Days to Christmas with . . .

                                the Ferrell boys and me! 

See my other posts about the 25 Days to Christmas Countdown with the Ferrell boys and me at this LINK.