Holiday Bucket List

Oh the holidays are upon us and it is truly the most magical time of year!  This is the first year that Sloan really "gets" Christmas and seeing the magic of Christmas through her eyes is seriously amazing!  She LOVES Christmas lights and loves talking about baby Jesus.  But oh man, my girl is terrified of Santa.  She is excited about the idea of Santa and loves reading books about Santa, but we've seen him twice now and the girl looses her mind she is so scared!  I'm hoping this is just age appropriate and she won't always be so afraid!  Phayre is only four months old so obviously she doesn't get it, but she's super fun to dress up!

We've been doing lots of festive activities, but there are several more on our holiday bucket list!  I thought we'd share some of the fun things we've been up to!

Probably my most favorite tradition is Christmas pajamas!  And I'm not even going to admit how many I bought this year... just in case my husband reads this :).

The girl's pajamas are both from Carters, but they're sold out.  These ones are very similar.  Phayre's santa hat.  Sloan's bow.  Phayre's shoes. 

Our neighbor gave us tickets to a pancake breakfast with santa and it was so fun!  Sloan loved the chocolate chip pancakes (and I loved the mimosas, obvi).  The best part was that the entire event benefitted charity!  It was all fun and games until it was actually time for the girls to sit on santa's lap though...  Sloan lost her mind.

Phayre's skirt. Phayre's headband.

I literall begged and pleaded with Sloan to stop screaming... and proceeded to bribe her with treats.  Let's just say it didn't work.  Not one little bit.  In between cries and screams she yelled, "I WANT A PURPLE PUPPY SURPRISE, NOW LET ME GOOOOOO!"

We also went to our town tree lighting at city hall and it was seriously a blast!  That scary old santa happened to be there so we decided to skip him this time.  We listened to the choir, drank hot cocoa, and ate the most delicious cookies!  Phayre slept on me almost the entire time in the front pack, which always feels amazing.  Pretty please sweet P, always be little enough to sleep on me in the front pack!

(A lot of you have asked about this cozy suit of Phayre's and it's sold out, but this one and this one are similar). Phayre's hat.  Phayre's paci clip.

Isn't my hubs such a stud?! :)

We haven't done it yet, but we plan on going this week to zoo lights!  Apparently most zoo's around the country put lights up for the holidays.  We've been once before and it's super fun to walk through. We'll also start going on nightly walks to see our neighbors Christmas lights, one of Sloan's favorite activities.  If you're in the Portland, OR area make sure you also check out Peacock Lane!

We built a gingerbread house last week and plan on decorating Christmas cookies this week (followed by hot cocoa and our favorite Christmas movie, The Grinch).  These activities are so so fun, but beware of the sprinkles.  I'll definitely be cleaning up sprinkles until Christmas of next year... or longer.  

This is the first year we're doing Elf on a Shelf with Sloan!  I love the idea of it and Sloan LOVES it, but we keep forgetting to move our Elf (which Sloan named Donut).  Seriously you guys it's so bad, we've had Donut for a week and we've moved him twice!  We're working on it though... and thank goodness Sloan is only two!  My mom bought Sloan these elf pajamas and she thinks they're the best ting ever (they come with a matching doll dress!).

This season really is magical and I am enjoying it so much with my two sweet girls!  I hope you guys are doing fun things with your families too!

Xo,

Marisa