5th Day: Nutcracker Crafts

    On the fifth day of our twenty-five we had a slight change of plans.  Originally, we were going to meet up with a friend of mine and her two children- her son being just months younger than Marshall, and see Santa, live reindeer, & dickens' carolers.  The roads were icy and I still wasn't feeling up to par so we stayed home and did one of our crafts I have on reserve in case of these things.

Marshall looking out at the first snow fall of the year

    Before our special Nutcracker evening, I had Marshall prepare his Christmas list to Saint Nicholas as tomorrow is Saint Nicholas Day.  In our family tradition, we make a Christmas list to leave for Saint Nicholas along with a shoe.  If you are good St. Nicholas will take your list and leave you a treat.  When I was younger it was typically a chocolate orange (yum!) but Saint Nick must have heard about the coco shortage because he has always left us a book in the past.  We will have to see what he leaves this year.

He kept tapping his finger on his face and saying "Hmmm"
this is typical of Marshall; deep thinker.

Him showing off his extensive list.  I'm most proud of his
form, he's been holding with a proper grip since 18 mos.

Ever since the opera he likes to 'sing' opera (vowel noises).
Here he is hitting an especially high note.

    A little while after we were done preparing his Christmas list we started our special nutcracker evening.  We watched the "Marinnsky Theatre's Nutcracker" and made our fun nutcracker crafts to play along with the performance.  I printed off some online printables and brought out some tp rolls that I've saved to recycle into fun little puppets.  Marshall and Brad had some fun fighting the Rat King verse the Nutcracker.

    I also cut out a ballerina to go with the craft.  Marshall colored her tutu; for older kids you could have them make cut outs on the skirt like how you make a paper snowflake.

The feature 3D printables

Coloring the color page printables

The fully decorated printables

Acting out the play while it aired on the tv

    After all our special Nutcracker craft fun we surprised Marshall with a very special gift.  This past July, while looking through the clearance bin at Toys'r'us, we found this vintage inspired FAO wind-up toy soldier.  I love FAO clothing and toys but they are usually a little too pricey, but when they hit clearance I try to scoop them up as the quality is superior.  Well I was able to find this little guy on clearance for five bucks so we said why not and put it away for our 25 days.  Marshall absolutely loved it and had so much fun winding him up to watch him scoot across the floor.

Mads excited about his surprise tin soldier

   Before we started our bedtime routine we had to get things ready for our visit from Saint Nicholas.  We set out a good variety of shoes for Marshall to choose which ones he wanted to leave out for St. Nick; he ended up choosing his soccer shoes.

Picking out and setting out his shoes for St. Nick

All ready for the big guy in red

Acting innocent- he must know St. Nick is always watching.

    The fifth day was overall a pretty fun and special day at home.  Though it wasn't what we planned, it was still nice.  Marshall was able to get in his coloring for the day, I was able to recoup and relax just in time for a busy next few days, and we are all excited to see what St. Nick thinks of Marshall's nice streak.  Though, Mads is probably more concerned of what St. Nicholas will think of his shoes.  It was a day of accepting things that were outside of our control and embracing the change by making the most of it.  Happy St. Nick's eve!