December is here and we’re counting down to Christmas! From tracking the stars to see Santa’s course, to festive outdoor activities (socially distanced), starting new traditions, sanitizing and staying in. We’re sharing our favorites from curling up on the couch and watching some holiday classics to serving others, we have options for every family this Christmas.
TWAS THE 25th NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Twas the night after Thanksgiving and all through the house everyone was counting down to Christmas by reading their favorite Christmas stories and watching their favorite Christmas movies. And of course everyone was cozy in their Hanna Andersson family matching pajamas! From Gnomes and Deers, Stripes and even your favorite characters, we love Hanna Andersson pajamas because not only can the entire family match, but the quality makes them easy to pass down to siblings and cousins. The premium organic cotton makes them so soft that we just want to wear them all day. They also make for a great holiday photo outfit.
Almost every night, we have either been watching one of our favorite Christmas movies or reading a Christmas story in our pajamas. Some of our favorites are White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Elf and Muppet Christmas Carol.
TRACKING STARS TO SEE SANTA’S JOURNEY
How does Santa find your house? By the stars of course! We all know that Jolly St. Nick lives in the North Pole and high overhead he see Polaris (also known as The North Star). As he travels south the starry sky shifts slowly with new southern stars coming into view. You can countdown the nights of December and discover constellations (and maybe even spot Santa or the reindeer) with a GeoSafari Omega Refractor Telescope. With it you can explore the faraway wonders of space, from the Moon’s craters to Saturn’s dazzling rings and even deep-sky phenomena like star clusters and nebulae! Technology can also help us track Santa and you can follow along with Official NORAD Santa Tracker too!
If you have younger kids and they are just curious about the phases of the moon, space and planets, the GeoSafari Jr. Talking Telescope might be the way to go. Explore the solar system and learn from 240 fun facts and questions about outer space!
As Santa gets closer you may be able to spot him with your GeoSafari Jr. Kidnoculars and Kidnoculars Extreme. They are focus free, easy for kids to see, and hear, perfect for science exploration. Plus Educational Insights has some great FREE Astronomy Worksheets that you can print for quizs and facts about the solar system.
CREATING TRADITIONS AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
While it can be challenging to not be doing a lot of the holiday traditions, by creating new traditions and even studying how other cultures celebrate can help not only countdown to Christmas but shift your family’s perspective. Plus, there are quite a few outdoor options to still get your family in the festive mood.
We love Christmas lights and love how places have pivoted and created drive-thru light experiences. Our families had a great time at Tanaka Farms Hikari Festival of Lights. The 30-acre farm has been transformed with twinkling lights on tractors, Christmas trees and more. Hikari loosely translated means LIGHT/SHINE in Japanese. We took time during the week to look at photos and videos of what Hikari looks like in Japan too. We loved rocking out to Christmas music and taking in all the beautiful displays. The one mile route will take you about 30-45 minutes and finished with a drive-by chat with Santa. Make sure to use CODE: FAMILY10 for a discount by December 5th.
Then you can stop by their Holiday Market for Christmas trees, decor and more. The Christmas trees are cut fresh from Oregon and shipped immediately to Tanaka Farms. It was easy to select a tree because they are displayed on stands so you can see the true fullness and height. The staff were incredibly helpful and can even secure the tree to your car.
And if you travel just a little further up north to Lake Arrowhead, your family can spend the day at SkyPark Santa’s Village! From archery to biking, ice skating to zip lines, the whole family can be active outdoors and ushering in the winter. Celebrating it’s 65th Anniversary SkyPark has made adaptions to sanitize an be socially distanced without compromising on all the magic. We wrote letters to Santa, decorated cookies, rode the train and then met the St. Nick himself! Everything needs a reservation so we recommend doing what you can online before you arrive and then once you get into the village, select all the areas you want to hit up and then go reserve times… this also allows for the day to be paced and structured (which we love in our family!). Santa’s Village is open through January 10th.
AVOIDING COLDS THIS CHRISTMAS
We know on all your adventures season you will definitely have your cell phone in hand — to take pictures, shoot video, virtual chat with the family — but did you know a cell phone has 18x more bacteria than a public restroom?! We are mortified too. So we were ecstatic to find PhoneSoap.
The PhoneSoap Pro uses UV lights to sanitize, killing 99.99% of bacteria in just five minutes. PhoneSoap kills microorganisms that hide in crevices where cleaning wipes can’t reach and the larger sanitizing bay fits any size phone and case. Plus you can put anything that will fit in the bay and it will get sanitized too… so we use it for our keys, remotes, credit cards and more!
Feels so nice to say goodbye to the petri dishes in our pockets and welcome clean into our homes especially during cold and flu season and as COVID cases are on the rise.
REMEMBER THE REASON: WRITE A NOTE
Help your family remember the reason for the Christmas season. Brainstorm 5 ways you want to serve together this holiday season. From writing letters to frontline workers to adopting a family in need, helping your family focus on the true meaning of Christmas and giving, can help shift the focus on what they might be “missing out” on. When you brainstorm together as a family, you can even talk about why those organizations or causes are important to each person.
We are helping our children learn to read and write this year and writing letters to Santa and our family have been helpful for motivation. We love using Educational Insights Sentence Builders and Hot Dots to help build the foundation to learning how to read and write. Hot Dots are great because kids can practice a lesson on their own. When they get the correct answer it makes a noise and when the answer is incorrect, it makes a different noise. As working parents, we use Hot Dots quite a bit for independent work time.
