Reindeer hats, underwear, and gifts

Tuesday we read the book Olive, the other Reindeer.  It's a book about a dog named Olive who hears the song "All of the other Reindeer" on the radio.  She thinks they ware singing about her so she goes to the North Pole to help drive the sleigh.  Throughout the night she uses her dog instincts to help Santa and the Reindeer.  She ends up using her nose to help the reindeer drive through the fog and make it back to the North Pole.  Mike had to work late that night so while we waited for him to get home we made a craft to go along with the book.  We made reindeer hats.  We make these almost every year and they never get tired of making them.  They've been running around the house with their hats on the last few nights.

Since Mike is working all this week I didn't really plan any activities that would require a lot of my effort this week.  So, last night we read the book Aliens love Panta Clause.  The book is about Aliens that are so excited about Christmas that instead of stealing underwear, they decide to give them away.  They make up the underpants patrol and help Santa deliver underwear to all the boys and girls (including Santa and the Elves).  For the activity, I wrapped three packages of undies and each boy got to open up some new underwear.  I didn't take a picture because I thought they might be embarrassed to have their undies flashed on a public blog.  But they enjoyed opening their gifts of underpants and giggled throughout the book.

Tonight we are reading a book called Merry Christmas Stinky Face.  It's not my favorite Christmas book to be honest, but it is still a cute little story.  A child (can't tell if'it's a boy or girl) asks her mom questions like, "What if the snow keeps falling and covers the door so we can't open it up?"  or "What if the reindeer's antlers get stuck in the branches of the tree by my window?"  The mom addresses each concern in (mostly) practical ways to solve the problem, easing the child's worries.  I couldn't think of a great activity to go along with this book so tonight we are going to have the boys help us choose gifts for one another and then we will help them order them (online!).  Should be an easy activity and the boys always love choosing gifts for one another.