Christmas Countdown #15, 16, & 17

Day 16:
Today is baking day! Time to make all our holiday favorites and maybe some new ones, too. Who's ready for some cookies? (Remember to save some for Santa!)

Cookie making was a hit! We made traditional sugar cookie cutouts, peanut butter blossoms, caramel pecan turtles, and cinnamon sugar pretzels. No surprise, the kids loved decorating the sugar cookies the most!

Day 17:
Did you know you can watch Santa's reindeer on his Reindeer Cam? Check it out! I bet the reindeer get super hungry on Christmas Eve, traveling all over the world and pulling Santa's heavy sleigh. Today you will make some magic reindeer food and a tasty carrot wreath as a special treat for the reindeer.

These are all super quick and fun activities! Reindeer food is simply oatmeal, sugar sprinkles and glitter (to help the reindeer fly!)  We put ours in plastic baggies and the boys will sprinkle it on the lawn on Christmas Eve. Next, we made these pretty little wreaths to hang in the trees and replace the pinecones that our squirrels confiscated. All we did was take a small plastic bowl and place a plastic cup in the middle.  We filled the cup with water to hold it in place. Then we cut up carrots and sprinkled them around the cup along with some cranberries for color. We filled the bowl with water and placed the whole thing outside. The next morning, we had a frozen ice wreath that was ready to hang with a decorative ribbon. Yes, this probably wouldn't work in warmer climates, but it's perfect for our chilly Minnesota weather! And it makes the trees look nice and festive!

Day 18:
Time to "Elf" your neighbors! Pack up some of your special treats and surprise your friends! Be sure to ring the doorbell and RUN so they don't spot you. :)

Same concept as "Booing" our friends at Halloween--the boys loved picking out which special cookies to give to whom, packing them nicely in a bag, and zipping over to the neighbors' houses to leave them on the doorstep. We included this little note to encourage the love to be passed on throughout the neighborhood!