This Christmas was really hard because we usually spend it back in Boxall with my parents. Thankfully, Nathan had Christmas Day and Boxing Day off so we were able to spend it together. On Christmas Eve we had an afternoon dinner with 3 families, then had a service at the church. On Christmas morning, Allison opened presents, we had a big breakfast and then had some friends over int he afternoon for snacks and desserts.
Allison has been asking to change the color of her room since we moved in. Her room is a very light pink and after a friend told her that pink is for babies, has decided she hates pink. I knew she was acting out so I told her that if in one year she still feels the same way, we could change her room.
I'll admit a big part of the reason I didn't want to change her room was because of how expensive a room makeover would be. I talked it over with Allison and told her that I would paint her room and add a few new elements but that it would count as her Christmas gift from Nathan and I. She was happy to accept and a week before Christmas I finished her room.
Allison chose the bold teal color (even after I tried to sway her with a lighter color), and I came up with the wall mural to help break up the heavy solid color. Her room was also updated with new bedding, a mirror, and wall decorations.
After:
Allison's favorite part of her new room is her full length mirror. She loves to use dry erase markers to draw pictures and write notes. I found this note on her mirror recently.
Allison has 2 1/2 weeks off for Christmas so we needed to find activities to fill our time.
We started by doing a lot of Christmas crafts. This is a twig and scrap fabric tree ornament Allison made.
We also went to the Overland Park Arboretum for the Luminary Walk.
Instead of making one large gingerbread house, Allison and I made three mini houses. The candy barely made it through the decorating process.
Our church held the annual Longest Night service. I was able to spend an afternoon helping put up crosses and putting the names and ages of the victims on the crosses.
Tonight we went to the small town of Linwood, KS. Our former pastor, Mark Clifton is replanting a church there and he planned a bluegrass concert featuring the band, Chosen Road. The town was only 45 minutes from our house but it felt very rural - we were a rarity in masks, but to be fair, we were outside most of the night. There were crafts and games in the community center, the center of town was blocked off for the concert, and there was event a surprise visit from Santa and the KC Wolf!
